Minutes
by solieabouteverything
Summary: Reincarnation is tricky. Especially when you realize that you live in the Naruto universe, your adoptive parents sire the protagonist, and you still have no idea if this is actually real. It's confusing. But sometimes, you can't realize how precious moments are until you only have minutes left... [SI/OC]
1. Chapter 1: Waking Up

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from the Naruto manga.**

 **words she doesn't understand**

 _thoughts_

 **Chapter 1: Waking Up**

I didn't think I would wake up this time.

I just wanted to start over. There were so many mistakes, so many mishaps and broken relationships. I needed to escape, escape from my parents who would never accept me, escape from the endless insults and jeers of my peers and the disappointed looks from my family. I had lost everything, even myself, and I wanted to start over. But no matter how hard I tried, everyone had already figured out their opinions of me. I lost my friends; them slowly turning their backs on me, me too afraid of rejection to chase after. I lost my boyfriend, my best friend, and couldn't save him when he needed me most. I had taken everything for granted and now I had nothing.

I just _wanted_ to start over.

Yet, I don't think I wanted to wake up.

The only reason I knew that I was awake, despite my eyes seeing darkness, was the movement. I could feel my body being lightly bounced and jostled against the soft walls of this cushion as I was probably transported from room to room. I wondered how many drugs were sloshing through my veins- my limbs were heavy and dull with a strange warm numbness. I had thought it to be impossible to save me, that no doctor, no god could change my fate.

But I welcomed the strange drugs. The constant sensation of floating, both my mind and body, made me feel warm and safe. It was comforting. With the drug, I felt content and secure and loved. The drug buzzed among my stream, a mixture of invigorating and soothing. It brought out an innocence, a childishness, I never knew I had. It was sparked within me a strange sense of happiness and content. I had forgotten how that felt.

Time passed, what might have been few hours could have been many years in this quiet alcove. There was a constant rush of warmth, a steady rhythm which provided me a constant sense of comfort. It reminded me of the oceans, of waves. This rhythm was my only measure of time though it occasionally sped up or slowed down. Sometimes, there was also a soothing sound that couldn't quite register within my mind, familiar yet completely strange. Often, I would try to reach for whatever sound I was hearing and receive a response. These moments always felt so intimate. There was no sadness, no anger, no room for judgment in this strange dreamland. There honestly was little room to even think as I was always drifting in and out of sleep, following the rhythm of my body.

Then one time, I woke up, my mind clear enough to form coherent thoughts. I woke up from my dream, my shelter, and I stayed there in my discarnate place wondering what had woken me up. My body didn't feel quite right. The rush of warmth didn't feel so comforting as foreboding. It was faster than usual. Panic filled within me as I realized they were _taking the drugs away_ and I kicked and squirmed in protest. Fear overcame my mind. A slight rocking and a sudden sense of forced tranquility fell upon me as my body relaxed and prepared for more sleep. I sighed in relief as I realized that the drugs must have been administered once again, yet there was a spark of wariness at the disturbing realization that they may eventually be taken away.

I didn't want to face them. I couldn't face _him._

When all but the tiniest shred of worry had left, I felt a sharp movement. My body slammed against the right velvety wall and then this crushing pain surrounded my body. I haven't felt pain in so long in my velvety blanket that I began to panic. I couldn't think and I realized that I _couldn't breathe._ My walls were tightening around me and I was suffocating. My safe house was now a prison. I squirmed and fought for oxygen, and as the precious moments went by, my body grew weaker and weaker. I could hear the muffled sounds of something outside as I was trapped within the walls, too weak to move.

Then the wall was torn away. The cold, frigid air rushed down my throat to my lungs and I could here the sound of a baby crying. It was still dark here, but still brighter than the complete darkness of my previous environment. The rustles of leaves and the smell of wet grass was crisp and almost harsh in the night air. There was tension in the air, a sort of buzzing energy. I was wet, laying on an almost-hot, sticky liquid that was rapidly cooling.

Gingerly, a hand lifted me up from the liquid making me realize that I was tiny. Whoever was holding me was breathing heavily and suddenly I realized that I was the crying baby. You would think that I would need time to process this information that I was reborn as a baby but somehow the only thing I could think about was how uncomfortable I felt. I squirmed and I cried out in agitation. The person holding me, _Mother,_ was only a blur of dark red. Gently, I was wrapped some scratchy fabric and Mother patted my back gently. My tears and sniffles went away quickly.

"Kushina." The yellow blob said firmly. "You can't expect Konoha to take in another **orphan**." I blinked at the Japanese. The semifamiliar language was soothing to my mind, yet felt foreign to my new ears.

But the tone made it clear. _The red blur isn't my mother._ The warm feeling within my chest turned cold and dropped to my stomach. I squirmed as the girl holding me tensed at my whining. She held me closer.

"But Minato... She's the only family I have left." She said, stroking my hair. I tried to move my arms to the lock of hair that was uncomfortably sticking to my face. I failed; my muscle coordination was practically nonexistent.

I blinked my blurry eyes, she was _family. Maybe a sister._

I vaguely remembered the older sister and brother I had left behind. The age gap had been rather wide back then as well.

Man seemed exasperated. "Just because she has red hair doesn't mean she's an Uzumak-"

"Their chakra." She interrupted, while using a scratchy fabric to wipe the sticky fluid off my face. "And how many red-heads throw seals around like that?"

I blinked, my mind finally fitting the sounds into words and words into meanings. My mind already felt raw from the experience of the rebirth and there was just so much going on. The smell of wet grass, the scratchy fabric wiping away the wetness on my face, the cool air making my damp skin freeze, the chirping crickets, the taste of metal in my mouth, the words they were saying... I was going through sensory overload.

But from the information I had right now, the implications of my situation were clear.

I wasn't just reborn.

I was reborn into the Naruto universe.

"She's still an **orphan.** The **orphanage** is overcrowded." Minato tried to reason. Minato and Kushina, the parents of the protagonist. I wish I had been more comfortable with Japanese. I frowned at the foreign word, trying to remember the meaning. _Minashigo? What? Isn't that "considered?"_

"Don't worry Mina-chan. I'll take her in." She cooed at me. I instinctively grabbed the finger she placed by my hand. "She's family."

"Kushina..." Minato pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Please..." Even without seeing her face, I could feel the full force of her puppy eyes.

They continued to argue as I blanked out, my thoughts filtering the sounds, the Japanese, filling the air. I wondered briefly if they were crazy, pretending that Naruto was real. But reincarnation didn't seem to be real and here I was a fresh newborn.

Yup. Definitely Naruto universe.

 _It was interesting seeing their dynamic,_ I thought. _Kushina and Minato were some of the- if not the strongest- ninjas of their generation. Yet their argument, their voices, their posture hinted nothing at their strength. Between the two of them, it didn't seem that one was more dominant than the other, despite Kushina's well known reputation at having a fiery personality and Minato's higher rank. Perhaps it was the way their relationship played out. They seem to have a really mature relationship._

And then Kushina had to prove to me _just_ how right I was.

"Pretty please 'Nato-kun. I promise to give you a really nice massage at home."

The innuendo was not lost.

 _Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope._

"I'll make it really nice, with **candles** and chocolate. And then we can have a really nice time in the bed and make our own Uzumaki baby so she could have a sister. And the- "

 _Nope. Nope. Abort ship. Nope. Nope._

Minato seemed to be blushing for both of us as his blob turned more pink than yellow.

"Fine." He quickly said. "Just stop. Don't speak about it in front of the baby."

 _Omigod. Thank you. I'm fre-_

"Dattebane. Why? She's too young to remember, not to mention understand us."

 _NO. NOT TRUE AT ALL._

He sighed and to my utter horror continued, "Fine, go ahead if you want. But let's just hurry home."

 _WHY. STOP._

"You just want to go home so I could..."

Despite the fact that I wanted to wash my ears and brain, the following conversation had confirmed the fact that I was indeed reborn within the Naruto universe and in fact not hostage to a bunch of crazy cosplayers. It was also confirmed by the massive leaps they were taking through the trees, giving me heart attacks as they somehow spanned a 30 feet distance in a single leap. (I believe heart attacks are uncommon with neonatals.)

But honestly, I could have confirmed the situation in better ways, without listening to the young couple using dirty innuendos and dealing with the disturbing images racing through my mind. I sincerely hoped that they wouldn't adopt me. Playing the child while knowing just exactly how they will make my brother, would make my life infinitely awkward.

It'd be so much easier to ignore everything and just refer Kushina as the red lady and Minato as yellow blob for the moment.

The cold air that rushed past my face in my makeshift blanket was refreshing. But despite the heat my carrier was radiating, the misty rain was making me shiver. The speed we were running at, the constant giant leaps they were taking in the branches, made me nauseous. I snuggled up against Kushi- the lady. She smelled like ink, musty books, and of sweat and the dirt around us.

"Hey baby~." The lady crooned. I blinked and the yellow blob smiled and turned his head towards the front.

"We're almost there."

There was a slight ringing in my ears as they leaped down from the treetops onto the solid ground and raced towards the grand wall ahead. The smell of wet grass and leaves was now giving way to dust and civilization.

 _It really is the Leaf village gate,_ I stared in wonder. The worn wall was made of a russet wood planks, reinforced with steel pipes. The door, also wooden, was painted a vibrant green with red characters painted upon them. Were the character's seals? It looked grand and majestic but worn down in a way that depicted strength rather than fragility.

It already felt like home.

The guards waved the two forward without a word when they saw the yellow blob and my carrier. Their eyebrows did raise when they saw me snuggled in my warm blankets and showcasing my beautiful red locks for the world to see.

 _What can I say, I'm cute._

Fine, the world didn't see my red locks. We didn't run into anyone until we entered the big, red- Oh my god, that's actually the Hokage building. I wanted to smile but ended up yawning.

 _Eh. I'm tired anyways._

The Hokage office was a lot of beige. The lights were rather bright after the past hours in varying degrees of darkness and I squinted. It was warm here. Warm was good.

"Hokage-sama." Kushina kneeled, head facing down, as I squirmed to see this person. There was a white and red blob and a black blob. "I hope you've been doing well?"

"I have. Thank you for asking." The white blob said. He sounded amused. "I'd, however, would be pleased to know exactly how you've managed to gain a hold of a newborn."

Kushina smiled a bit before she straightened up. She stood up tall and adjusted her arm so she held me in one arm, exuding the image of confidence and joy. She pulled out two scrolls from her side pouch with her free hand and placed it upon the desk.

"B rank mission. Our objective was to incapacitate and remove bandits from the village while observing possible leaks of Konoha action from our target, Keiji Takamachi. We were to eliminate if necessary. Our mission was successful and Takamachi-San has been found guilty of treason and punished as accordingly."

My carrier's breathing quickened for a moment before she continued.

"However, upon our arrival at a border post, we discovered that the members were found deceased. We suspected **foul play.** The bodies are placed within the second scroll I gave to you. Minato-kun and I found a trail from the suspected enemy that Minato-kun tracked. There, we encountered two teams of 3 members, 4 high Chuunin, 1 low Jounin, and 1 Jounin of considerable strength. Two teams were fighting a young couple. Female was heavily pregnant. The couple showed no immediate signs of any village **affiliation**. The couple, along with 5 members of the opposing team, suffered critical injuries. Couples exhibit Uzumaki traits, red hair, enhanced strength and speed, sealing **specialization,** and heightened **vitality**."

My ears twitched as I realized she was talking about my parents. Mama?

"There were 8 casualties and 7 fatalities. I wasn't really sure how to but I performed an emergency Cesarean section. It was... messy."

My heart dropped. The warmth was gone, mama was gone. My emotions swelled up, more than they should've and I whimpered. Kushina rocked me up and down quickly before continuing.

"An **executive** decision was made to intervene. The Kiri team was eliminated. Both members of the couple suffered fatal blows and I performed an emergency C-section to deliver a female with seemingly no complications."

Kushina paused here before taking a deep breath, steeling herself. Her eyes focused straight ahead; she was probably making eye contact. Her voice came out a little stronger, more earnest.

"If it's not too bold of me- Dattebane- I have a request Hokage-sama."

The Hokage chuckled, before I heard him inhale the smoke of his pipe. "I would've believed that nothing would be too bold for you."

"Ummm... Please grant full Konoha citizenship upon female child, born within the borders of Fire country and suspected to be from known clan **affiliated** with Konohagakure- bane. Upon citizenship, Minato-San and I would be willing to take full responsibility for the child."

There was a brief silence. I yawned, fighting against drowsiness despite the gravity of the situation. Kushina's arms tensed slightly around me.

"Kushina, given your position, you understnad that I'll need some time to think about this." Red's entire body drooped. Her arms sagged and her spine curled. "I'll let you know my decision by tomorrow morning, when I expect your written report. You are dismissed."

Kushina held me close for a moment before stepping forward and bowing her head in silence. She handed me to the old man, his hands felt secure. She and the yellow blob left the room.

As the door shut close, black blob turned to the Hokage.

"You'd allow her to raise a child, especially the child of an enemy?" The voice was low and scratchy; it grated on my ears. I cuddled into him, seeking warmth and making note of the smell of tobacco clinging to his clothes. My previous father had the same smell.

"Danzo. She's a newborn. That's hardly a risk." The Hokage replied dismissively, his eyes trained on me. His robe glazed my hand and I gripped it tightly. The texture was of satin.

"Yet Kiri would chase this one so close to the border."

"If she raises this child, she may not feel the need to give birth to a child of her own. Lowering the risk of the Kyu-"

"Or the child can become a **liability**. Another weakness for our enemies to target."

There was a heavy silence in the air as the Hokage pondered the Danzo's statement. Said blob continued.

"If the child is truly an Uzumaki, her bloodline shouldn't be wasted. I can ensure that with the proper training. I have taken care of several **orphans** as you know already."

"No."

"Kushina is merely a child herself. Surely you can't exp-"

"I said no, Danzo." I shivered and squirmed in my blanket as the suffocating atmosphere of just pure danger filled the air. Later I would know this to be killing intent.

Danzo, the name sent goosebumps down my back. I whimpered slightly and the suffocating atmosphere relaxed just so slightly. Danzo, however, wasn't done.

"If she _is_ an Uzumaki," Danzo drolled, making it clear to drop the accusation that I wasn't. "she should do well with a shinobi providing guidance. Perhaps even **sire** another container for the future." His voice was steely, a hint of malice hidden beneath.

"It is Kushina's **birthright** as the last adult member of the Uzumaki clan to have claim on the child. And Kushina could ensure that the child would be properly trained in seals." Hokage was getting a bit annoyed.

"Dear friend, Kushina is young. She does not have the resources that are at my disposal. It's simply an interest of wasted potential."

"The Senju clan would have the appropriate **facilities.** " The Third Hokage's tone indicated there was nothing that could be objected to with this plan. There was a sense of finality in the air.

"You always were too soft." Danzo scoffed. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow as I heard the clicking of a cane and the closing of a door.

Thank god.

The room felt better without the creepy Sharingan stealer in here. Safe. Comforting. The office was rather warm compared to the chilly air of the forest. I squirmed into a more comfortable position and the Hokage looked down at me in his arms. I blinked sleepily.

"My son insists he's too old for cuddling." He murmured. He placed his finger in my hand and I curled my hand tightly, pulling on it as if to respond to his words. "He'll be a fine ninja, just as I expect you will. I can see it in your eyes, you have a fire sparking within your soul..."

He began humming softly. He looked so much younger, wrinkles just beginning to make appearances around his eyes. I wanted to reach towards his beard, it looked soft. His arms tightened around me. My eyelids began to droop.

There wasn't anything I could do as of now, only sleep.

So I drifted off to the world of dreams.

When I next awoken, I was in Tsunade's arms.

Her eyes, a clear chocolate brown, were the first thing to greet me. They were wary, waiting for me to cry, to fuss. I meant to move my arms, only to belatedly realize that I was tightly swaddled in a tiny little quilt.

Tsunade sighed in relief as she placed me down on a hard surface. The delicate scent of flowers, probably her perfume, disappeared as the harsh scent of antiseptics and lemon wafted up my nose. I frowned in discontent, shifting in my blankets and loosening it.

Tsunade clicked her tongue twice and my eyes immediately flickered towards the source of the sound. I wondered if my tongue had the muscle coordination to produce that sound. Her arms slowly moved towards me, her green robe swaying gently, as she undid the swaddle. I startled, in surprise despite the warning, and my arms flung up quickly.

The look of shock on my face must have been amusing because Tsunade snorted. I guess I still had my startle reflex.

Her hand glowed a light blue for a split moment before she brought it towards my legs. I watched, curiously and expecting to feel some sort of healing or physical stimulation. To my disappointment, the only difference I felt was that her hand was comfortably warm. She stretched and adjusted my body, the cool air feeling foreign against my skin. I shifted on top of the swaddle blanket, and Tsunade patiently rearranged my arms as she took my height and weight.

When she finished, I stilled. I wanted to be back in the swaddle blanket, safe and secure.

Instead, her hand glowed green and I had felt medical chakra for the first time.

It warmed me to the toes, reminding me of the initial feeling of coming inside a home after playing in the snow. It buzzed, similar to the way the air did, but this one felt more like the gentle vibrations of when you placed your hand on top of a piano as somebody played rather than the pins and needles of when your limb fell asleep.

And thus, I reached an critical conclusion: The energy in the air was chakra.

I couldn't believe it took me so long to figure it out. It permeated the very air surrounding us, almost suffocating but not at that point yet. It radiated off the trees surrounding us, the warmth of Red as she held me. It was soft, yet with the potential to be harsh or deadly. Like light. Or heat. The chakra in the air wasn't necessarily louder in this hospital but there was definitely more in the atmosphere. The energy was heavier, more condensed. But at the same time, it was lighter around the air, as if it was cleaned and purified of everything that made it feel suffocating.

And abruptly, the medical chakra pulled away, taking away the warmth and comfort. I squirmed as Tsunade once again wrapped me in my swaddle; the warmth of the soft blanket calming me down quickly. Tsunade hummed to me, holding my close to her. As an Uzumaki, I had to be distantly related to her. I liked that idea. She exuded body heat and was calm. And when she talked to me, her voice was really really soft, maybe softer than silk. Just like her chakra.

"I KNEW IT MINATO! I KNEW IT! I TOLD YOU WE'D KEEP HER! DATTEBANE!"

Red's voice outside the room was the entire opposite. It alarmed me, bringing tears to my eyes against my better judgment. I squirmed and let out a small wail of irritation. How was I more related to her than Tsunade? I don't know how I would survive Red being my guardian. Tsunade seemed to agree.

"That Uzumaki is gonna be the death of both of us, kid." Tsunade muttered with exasperated fondness as the door banged open. I flinched at the loud noise and my lips wobbled in discontent. Both Red and Yellow were here. Yellow was shuffling with paper bags amongst his arwhile Kushina was frantically talking to Tsunade. Or maybe she was always like that.

 **"Hisashiburi** Tsunade! So how is she? Is she okay? She's okay right? Hokage-sama said I could take her home if she's okay. She's gonn-"

I heard the sound of something smacking the top of somebody's head. Was that a clipboard? I didn't even think they were supposed to have those here. But technology in the Naruto world was always weird. It might've had to do with the idea of electricity coinciding with chakra and natural energy and all that. Seals were also pretty overpowered and all that- like they could do anything.

 _Mmm... Gimme some of that._

"... careful to keep her warm I wouldn't have had to spend a half hour fixing her ear **infection** and **sedating** her for additional immunizations. What were you thinking?" And back to Tsunade berating my future guardian. It was pretty amusing watching Kushina get all flustered and red and-

"Gomen- bane. Well we didn't really have a iryo-nin with us and I was kinda scared cause her mother was dying and panicking because she had an injury in the stomach. And it was like family and I was sad. So we were kinda in a rush and uhh we got distracted trying to get back to Konoha-"

I cringed. _Oops._ Nobody had missed the sexual connotation there. They didn't even actually do anything though, just some dirty words that probably scarred me for life and make me unable to see them as actual guardians because they made their teenage hormones pretty apparent. That's a scary thought. I think I might be older than my guardians when you count the years of my previous life. They were just teenagers!

 _Teenagers with the ability to spit fire and teleport and draw a sign that could seal a devil into a newborn._

Now, _that's_ a scary thought. I couldn't imagine some of the guys in my high school being able to have that much power. Hormones made some teenagers idiots.

"Kushina..." Yellow's voice was dying of embarrassment. The distinct sound of a facepalm echoed through the room. This was like watching anime all over again. I don't know if that's for the better or worse.

Probably worse.

I tuned out the rest of the conversation, which quickly turned towards child-care. I was transferred into Minato's arms and then Kushina's as Tsunade gave them a quick crash course on how to hold, feed, and do all things babies. Minato was really cozy but it seemed like Kushina wanted to hold me. I was a bit sleepy but she couldn't seem to stand still. She was shaking her leg and fidgeting. It was rather hard to fall asleep.

"What do you think we should call her?" My fidgeting, unsuitable-for-napping guardian yapped.

"How about..." Yellow suggested."

"No." Tsunade said firmly. Minato visibly slumped. I relaxed, glad that I avoided that fate. Minato sucked at naming things.

"You should name her Nari." Tsunade said, staring into my eyes. I tawned.

"Like the old stories grandma Mito used to tell us?" Kushina brightened up immediately.

"Hai." Tsunade grinned.

I felt satisfied. It was pretty... The adults stared at me quietly.

"It suits her." Kushina beamed. I didn't really care as long as it wasn't stupid.

"Hmmm... Well that makes you the godmother." Minato said slyly to Tsunade. "We should celebrate with a drink later tonight."

"Well, I have to cover shift and it's your first night with Nari. So maybe another day. Tomorrow fine?"

"Perfect." Minato said. He picked up the bags that were on the ground and Kushina tightened her grip on me.

"Her brother should be coming home soon so I think we should get going. Minato has to cook dinner tonight so we have to get going. We'll see you tomorrow night." Kushina explained.

"Thank you so much for everything Tsunade-sama." Minato said.

"Hai. Just remember what I told you. Don't boil the formula powder and make sure she sleeps-"

I turned and clutched onto Kushina's shirt. It was soft and I was sleepy again. Being a baby was really tiring...

"I swear you hid your baby bump so well!"

"She looks just like you!"

"Awww... Aren't you gonna be such a great little ninja!"

The same phrases over and over again from different voices

Walking home was nice, I think. A lot of people talked to Kushina and me, cooing at me and congratulating her. The sun was shining pretty brightly in Konoha (I guess the perpetual good weather depicted in the anime wasn't a joke.) and the breeze was nice and cool. I could smell flowers and trees and all that grass around us as we walked. There was a lot less concentration of that buzz in the atmosphere outside and it was easy to ignore with the hustle and bustle of the crowd. When we went passed the marketplace (it must be on the way home because Minato already had groceries), you could smell the freshly baked loaves of bread being sold and the scent of juicy meat kebabs from the street stands. It made my mouth water even though I probably couldn't eat solid foods yet. One of the stand owners gave one to Kushinafood he brought to the hospital.

It was hard to focus my thoughts, I was tired and I still was an infant. Gathering my thoughts into something coherent seemed impossibly difficult. It was much easier to focus on how warm Red's arms were, or how her coarse but silky her vibrant hair lightly grazed my fist. There were colors everywhere so it was just easier to observe.

My mind now was just like how it was back in my old life. Whenever I didn't take Adderall, my hyperactive mind was distracted by everything. That's how it felt like right now. I wondered if it was actually my ADHD carrying over to this lifetime or the physical limits to my immature brain. Was ADHD a classified disorder here? Maybe only Uzumakis had it, that would explain Kushina's and Naruto's behavior.

I flinched at that thought. Naruto wasn't even alive yet. Would my existence here affect his birth?

Kushina finished climbing up the stairs of the building. Her silent steps (more evidence of ninja skillz) shuffled a hit as she shifted me into one arm. The low groan of door hinges greeted me.

Welcome home. I thought as I yawned again. I bet I'm hella cute. Heh.

Minato had closed the door with a click and flitted over to the kitchen to put the groceries away. He was so quick I wonder if he was using Hiraishin. It seemed like it used minimal chakra anyways with the speed and efficiency he used it. He was famous for taking out an entire army, right? So that was probably 200 uses within one battle. Meanwhile, Kushina stepped out of her shoes and shuffled into house slippers without even bending over. The house was bright and warmer than the cool air outside. It smelled faintly of spices and clean laundry. I didn't hear any steps before a new voice greeted Kushina.

"You're so pretty, aren't you?" Kushina cooed. I gave her a gummy smile and I literally saw sparkles in her eyes. "Ahhh! Look Mina! She smiled! She smiled-bane!"

"You're happy, aren't you?" Minato said in that baby voice. I gurgled to appease him. "You're happy!"

A bundle of energy, chakra, came over. It sparked and fizzled, reminding me of grey and purples. I turned my head towards the direction, but ended up cuddling into Kushina's shirt. It smelled of the same musty paper and ink, but the smell of sweat was gone- replaced with a sweet floral scent. She cooed and stroked my hair with a finger.

"What the hell is that?" A high-pitched voice asked.

"Language~" Minato's voice drifted from the kitchen. His voice wasn't stern, instead cheery and bright. I gurgled in the warm arms of my servant- Oops, I mean Kushina.

"Gomen," muttered the voice. "Ano... What are you holding Uzumaki-san?"

The voice was relatively young and came from below. Contrarily to the words, it did not sound the very least apologetic. In fact, the voice seemed repulsed. He didn't think I was cute. I was upset. However, I refrained from pouting. Whatever.

Kushina didn't seem to care about the midget's tone. Or perhaps, she didn't notice the obvious contempt laced within the child's voice. She turned my body outwards towards the offensive person's view; he was an assortment of light grey and black.

"Look! She's your younger sister! Isn't she so cute? She even got the same hair as me, dattebane!"

There's the distinct sound of choking and spluttering coming from the blob. I blink, curious about the reaction from this new stranger. Maybe he was in awe with my inevitable cuteness.

Hmm... Forgiveness may be possible.

"B-but how? When? I could have sworn you didn't even have a bump and she's kinda big for you to hide it THAT well.. Wait, if it takes 9 months to- when did you and Sensei..." The voice trails off in a slightly traumatized tone. He must be embarrassed because I could see the red mixed in-

Wait, did he just call Minato, sensei?

"Kakashi-chan! Meet your younger sister Nari Uzumaki!"

I blinked at the Kakashi, taking in the not as blurry lines of grey and green and black.

Then, I burst into tears.

Edited: 11/14/17

* * *

Thanks **Guest** for pointing out my bad habit of repetition! Heheh. To answer your question: prior to this change, she yawned 7 times. - Now I think it's 3.

And also to **Riveria** for pointing out the difference between Kushina's dattebane and Naruto's dattebayo. I actually didn't know that.

and ty everyone for being so frigging nice in the reviews. Honestly, you guys are the best.


	2. Chapter 2: Homesick

**Chapter 2: Homesick **

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry-bane!" Kushina squeaked as my wails filled up the apartment. "I'm sorry!"

Kakashi had backed away rather quickly at my tears, wincing at the loud noise. His ears were probably rather sensitive to begin with- living with Kushina hadn't dull that sense in the slightest. I heard clanging from the kitchen before I saw the telltale yellow blur of Minato hand something off to Kushina.

There was a bottle in my mouth.

Admittedly, it felt comfortable to my soft gummy mouth- which also felt weird without teeth. My instincts had the suckling reflex.

But I didn't want to be comforted. It took major willpower, but I turned my face, successfully dislodging the bottle.

I let my displeasure known.

The clear image of Kakashi face, had brought reality down on me, crashing down like the shattered pieces of a mirror, pieces of my fate scattered through my mind.

Kakashi Hatake- silver hair, green vests, and all- was the prime example of the horrors of this world. He was the epitome of a survivor, the opposite of me who just gave up. He was the wakeup call that I needed that reminded me the truth of this generation, this place where I was reincarnated in. Everything here goes wrong and nothing goes well. This generation would face not one, not two, but three Great Shinobi Wars. This generation would deal with the aftermath of the Kyuubi. This generation was one of the worst possible ones to be born in.

 _Even waking up from a suicide attempt and facing everyone would be preferable to being here._

 _Perhaps,_ a small part of me hoped, _I'm in a coma right now and everything here was just a vivid dream._

But I knew that the chance of that was rather slim. I had felt _pain_ and everything here was just so _tangible._ This was my world, until I died or woke up from this insane coma.

 _I'm not safe._

This realization only made me wail louder and harder. Kushina handed me off to Minato, who quickly bounced up and down while patting my back. They both looked loss and confused. I knew that Uzumakis were loud but wow, _did I have a set of lungs on me!_

I was going to grow up in a generation in which everyone would die, my adoptive parents, my family. In a world harsher than my last, being forced to struggle for survival as everyone falls around me. Kakashi was one of the few unfortunate to survive, dealing with the burden of killing Rin and holding the blame to Obito's death. I would fall in love with the people around me, only to lose them all over again.

That night, I was the epitome of a fussy infant. Depression clutched me like the claws of an eagle. I was swaddled and held in the arms of Minato all night, the poor ninja unable to gain a wink of sleep.

And the next few days followed similarly.

My poor sleep-deprived guardians suffered, although this situation wasn't really their fault. I think a part of me hoped that they would grow frustrated and return me to an orphanage, not giving me the chance to fall for them. I'm definitely sure my shrieks of anger had kept the entire apartment complex up, not like any neighbors would complain. Most would have pity on the fate of their beloved Yellow Flash. Only when the exhaustion of crying and wailing for hours straight did I stop my wails, settling for whines and a generally cranky temperament.

But Red and Yellow took it in a stride. At worst, they were worried that something was wrong. Tsunade came by more than once, unable to find anything wrong besides a slight tendency to chakra sensitivity. But my chakra coils weren't irritated so it didn't seem to be that. Red and Yellow seemed angry at themselves, desperate to find what was wrong with me. But how would they know that their just born infant would be traumatized and depressed by her reincarnation?

I was homesick too. This place was just so foreign. My body felt so tiny compared to my mind. I missed my previous life, my previous world, my previous parents. And the only thing I could do was blame myself for my decision to end it all. It was only suiting that my punishment would be able to suffer the same way I had made the people in my past life suffer by killing myself. Just as they had grown close and suffered from my death, my fate here would be to fall for the people around me and watch them die.

I was afraid.

* * *

 _There's no point._

 _I just want to go home..._

A whimper cut the silence of the room.

It was night, the chirping of the crickets outside and the darkness of the room proved that. Red and Yellow were in the next room, both sleeping I concluded from the way their chakra felt dampened and heavy. Kakashi was in his room, but it seemed that he was awake, probably working on a mission report. He probably heard my whimpers, but didn't know I was awake because of my teeny tiny chakra.

 _I'm surrounded by people, yet I feel lonely._

I turned on my mattress until I was lying on my stomach rather than my side. My crib seemed so big in my perspective, the bars on the side feeling claustrophobic. Everything here was a mix of black and greys, the darkness making everything seem even more fuzzier to my blurry infant eyes. Although the blanket on me was warm, I felt cold...

 _I don't want to be alone._

I smushed my cheek against the mattress. Another whimper escaped and I felt Yellow stir and make its- no his way here. I frowned when I realized that I wanted him to hold me.

 _It's not me. It's the body. I want to be alone._ I weakly defended against an imaginary person in my head.

But Minato was so _warm_ when he picked me up...

The door creaked open, breaking the silence of the room. With great effort, I turned back to my side to face him.

"Nari~" He hummed, peering at me over the walls of my crib. "You're awake?"

 _Of course I am,_ I frowned. Then whined again for him to pick me up. He obliged, cradling me in his arms and rocked back and forth, quieting my whines as I was content with the movement.

He was warm.

 _Whatever._ I was too tired to cry anyways.

Papa drifted out of the room, his barefoot feet didn't make a single sound. With the way we glided along the floors and the absolute silence, I felt like a ghost. Yet, it wasn't that eerie. He was so big compared to me and being surrounded by the warmth of his arms, it was comforting. It did help that his chakra was warm and bright, like a sun. Even now, with the fuzziness of sleepiness clinging to his chakra, he lit up like the sun, so much brighter and easier to pick out.

He knocked on a door and opened it. I looked blearily at the dim light escaping the room. Kakashi was using a candle to do whatever he was doing. Papa peeked his head in, one arm wrapped around me and the other to support my still rather squishy head.

"How's it going there?" The mentor said conversationally. The thumb holding my head was stroking my fuzzy hair. I closed my eyes, taking in the feeling. I heard a mumbled response from Kakashi and the telltale sound of him dropping his head on the table in frustration.

 _I think it says a lot about my previous life as a student that I can still recognize that sound._

Papa drifted inside shifting my position so my face was peeking over his shoulder. The shadows made the room seem weird, the contrast between dark and bright easier to process on my eyes.

"You know," Minato's chest gently rumbled from the vibration of his voice. But naturally, because I was super-duper squishy, I jiggled along. "rest is equally as important to a ninja as training."

I felt the crackling chakra of Kakashi stutter and I could tell he was sending Yellow an unimpressed look.

"It's not training," Kakashi's voice sounded weary; he must be tired. "I need to figure the fees left by..."

His voice trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Maybe he didn't want to say his name, maybe he wasn't sure whether to address him as Sakumo or his father.

After all, his father was selfish enough to kill himself. Perhaps Sakumo didn't love him enough to stay. Or maybe, that's why he left- he loved Kakashi too much.

I blinked, thinking about my own situation. Why did I leave?

I felt Minato's hand leave my head and heard the sound of Yellow mussing up Kakashi's hair.

"You should've told me and Kushina." Yellow scolded lightly. "We could've figure it out easily."

Kakashi didn't respond, but his chakra moved in a funny way.

"Kakashi, whether you like it or not, Kushina, You, Nari, and I- we're all family. And it's okay to ask for help from family. Because that's why we're here."

Something inside me lurched at that statement, mirroring Kakashi's chakra. I felt Yellow's hold on me tighten.

"I know we can't bring him back..." And there was a mournful note in that statement. "It's too late for that. But now, all we can keep living for him."

"Sakumo would want you to be happy."

 _But Kakashi doesn't want to be happy._

I blinked, wondering how I knew that.

Yellow let Kakashi dwell on his words, his lulling footsteps carrying me over to the door. I waved my fist at him, dislodging the blanket that lightly covered me. Minato sighed and wrapped the blanket around me once again, giving me a look of exasperated fondness.

His eyes were so _blue._

It was like the sky in the middle of April, not the pale blue of winter sky. Or maybe the blue of a pool, with sunlight glittering off the artificial miniature waves. His eyes had glints like that, even in the darkness surrounding us. It was so blue that even my blurry eyes picked up on it, because blue.

 _If Naruto's obsession of orange came from his parent's hair, my obsession with blue is going to come from our parent's eyes._

I winced at that thought. Minato wasn't my parent. Minato paused at my sudden twitch, before leaning me against his shoulder and walking again. I closed my eyes, slowly being lulled by the movement.

The sudden feeling of wind against my face made me open my eyes. My moments outside were rare, now that Minato had fixed up the Hiraishin so that it wasn't so motion-sickness heavy and the whiplash was negligible even to a squishy baby like me. It was easy to teleport me to my checkups and other than that, it wasn't reasonable for Red to take an infant out before my immune toughened up.

We were out on the stairs leading to our apartment- Minato was cradling me again. The smell of trees surrounded us and the crickets chirping sounded just like they did back home. The breeze was light, not cold. It felt like the end of summer...

"You probably can't see them yet," Yellow's smile was right in my face, so I couldn't miss it. "But sometimes, when I feel lonely, I come out here to watch the stars."

I hadn't expected that, but Minato seemed like the type to stargaze. Personally, stargazing had been my hobby in my past life.

 _I wonder if they look the same as before._

"Maybe we could make this our thing. Daughter-father bonding."

Minato missed it, but for a split second there, I smiled.

* * *

I yawned, the crust in my eyes cracking. My days have become a blur of sleep, eating, and of course, crying. There wasn't much else to do.

"Nari~"

The voice was deceptively cheery as Kushina picked me up from the crib. She must have felt my chakra stirring. I fussed, sleepy but acknowledging the hunger I felt. It was time for my bottle and I knew that crying would tire me out too much to finish the bottle.

I greedily sucked on the milk, basking in the temporary satisfaction the warm substance brought to me. It made my eyelids a bit heavy but I resisted the feeling. I hated the constant limitations of this body, the feeling of being trapped in the skin of an infant. I sucked harder on the bottle, only to realize that I had finished my meal..

Kushina burped me, her slaps were a little firmer than needed but it was okay. They didn't hurt or anything and while I was rather frail, my body absorbed the impact easily. She bathed me, the water warm and comforting, reminding me a little about the time I spent in the cushiony walls. If I closed my eyes, I could almost feel it again. After drying me off and applying baby lotion, I found myself swaddled up in my pajamas and in Kushina's arms. She had already started singing her usual lullaby.

 _""Nennen korori yo. Okorori yo..."_

I blinked, registering Kushina's favorite lullaby for me.

It was time for sleep again.

 _I don't want to sleep._

Last time, it was the opposite. I didn't want to wake up, I just wanted to sleep. But this time, I knew the truth. Waking up was inevitable and would signal the passing of another day. Another step closer towards the day when they would leave me. And while I was selfish enough to leave, I didn't want to be the one abandoned. And by the time I would be old enough, capable enough to leave...

Kushina and Minato would probably already be dead.

 _"Denden taiko ni, Shō no fue."_

For a split second, I heard it in another voice, a softer, smoother voice with a darker tone...

My old mom's voice.

I shook my head, struggling against the bindings of my swaddle. Kushina walked around the house, lights dimmed, and tried to soothe me to sleep. She held me close and bounced me up and down just as she always had, while quietly singing the song in my ear. Her voice was soft, and admittingly soothing.

 _Who did I leave behind?_

 _Are they okay?_

 _Did they even care?_

The funny thing about sadness is how empty it feels. Sadness is the dull ache within the pits of my stomach, almost like the sharp hunger pangs of starvation.

It drowns you.

 _"Sato no miyage ni..."_

Suddenly, the ripples of my sadness welled up into a wave of anger.

 _How dare she,_ my thoughts vindictive. _She's not my mother!_

 _"Nani mo-"_

Kushina nearly dropped me when my whines suddenly escalated into a ear-splitting wail. She looked frazzled, unsure of what to do- just as she had done for the last few weeks at my random crying fits. Anger was swelling up within me, welling into waves as my body immediately surged with my emotions.

 _She is not my mother._

And then Kushina burst into tears as well.

It startled me for a moment, making me pause to observe the precipitation falling down her face. Then I joined back in.

The two of us cried, her hold on me tightening as she shook with sobs. They reeked of exhaustion, of anger, of frustration. I cried for my home, my previous life, my mistakes. I matched her tear for tear. It didn't take long before the door opened; Yellow's footsteps would have been silent even without our sobs.

Minato looked at us. His wife's body, frail and exposed as she held me, the baby Kushina was intent on keeping. He didn't say a word as he gently pried me from Kushina's arms. I watched over his shoulders, my crying finally reduced to sniffles, as he gently guiding Kushina to the bed and wrapped her in a blanket. I thought that perhaps he would take me to my room and allow Kushina to calm down. To my surprise, he went to the other side of the bed, carefully getting into the bed, under the blankets.

Kushina had already cried herself out and leaned her head on Minato's shoulder. I sniffled, my eyelids growing heavy as Minato stroked my hair.

I blinked before forcing my eyes open. My vision, which had been consistently blurry cleared. And I stared at the couple in front of me. Kushina's eyes were swollen and puffy and the dark circles under Minato's eyes were prominent. They both stared at me, wary that I would burst into tears. I blinked slowly, feeling hesitant and awkward. And something else...

I felt guilty.

Kushina's hand gently brushed my red baby soft strands away from my face. Her hand was damp from wiping her tears. I flinched at the coldness before allowing her to continue stroking my hair. I watched her hand move as it stroked my head, the size of her hand was bigger than my face. Drowsiness crept up and covered me like a blanket; my eyes closed.

I dreamed.

* * *

 _The world was different_ _. The sky was white and beneath my feet was a still body of water for as far as I could see. The water beneath me felt solid, but of a consistency of really hard jello. It was almost disconcerting to see so much water without waves._

 _"Nari?"_

 _The voice sounded young and familiar. But I couldn't place a finger on it._

 _"Hello?" I called. There was no answer._

 _Hesitantly, I took a step forward towards where I heard the voice._

 _The clean flat surface beneath my feet was broken as the ripple of my single step radiated._

 _"I'm right here." The voice whispered into my ear._

 _I jerked around, trying to find the voice._

 _And found myself face to face with my reflection._

 _Her skin was tan with a yellow undertone. Her hair thick and straight and black. Her face was chubby and her eyes with huge dark brown._

 _She couldn't have been older than seven._

 _"Sori?" I whispered. I asked, reaching my hand out to touch her hair. My hand passed right through. "Are you me?"_

 _She shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Look at your reflection."_

 _I peered down at the water_ _and greeted my reflectoon._

 _I was pale, so different from my Previous Life. I looked like my old age, maybe 16 or 17. My hair was a fiery red, like fire. I had curves, slightly more than I had in my previous life. My body was slim, but toned- rather than the soft skinny body I had in my old life._

 _"You know," Sori said casually. "They won't leave you if you don't let them."_

 _"What?" I couldn't help the anger I felt, even though I was angry at myself._

 _"You always give up before things have even started," Sori's eyes flashed. "You always run away."_

 _"I don-"_

 _"Yes you do!" She snapped. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be here in the first place."_

 _I quieted at that. The words hurt, but I guess that's expected from somebody who used to be me._

 _"You can change it." Sori gestured out on the water. "Like the ripples you made."_

 _On the horizon, I can see the faintest trace of movement, a ripple. My eyes widened._

 _"Your existence is going to change this world."_

* * *

The next day, I knew something had changed. The brightness of the room didn't seem as muggy and crisp fresh air flowing through the window tasted of the green leaves. I blinked, surprised that I could see clearly.

Right on cue, I felt Red walk closer.

"Feeling better?" She said softly as she approached me. I yawned again and she lifted me up in her arms, holding me close to her.

"You're so tiny," she muttered. "It's hard to believe that you won't stay this way forever."

I mewed in content as I stretched inside of my swaddling. Kushina smiled and lifted me up, patting my back gently. I gurgled, my eyes glancing around wide-eyed at my nursery, which was hastily made in the few weeks after I came home.

The crib I slept in was a dark oak, the mattress high up to make taking me out easy. The mattress, I guessed, would be lowered as I grew larger. There were marks etched into the wooden that oozed of energy throughout the entire bed, like a veil or a shield. Perhaps it was made from Hashirama wood.

I felt Kakashi's chakra grow closer towards us so I turned my head to watch him enter the room. He was wearing dog patterned pajama pants and a white tank top, his mask off and his hair more relaxed without the hitiate. He stared at me warily, as expecting the cries that kept him up last night. I turned my head away.

My blanket, a fluffy yellow baby blanket was messily strewn across the white mattress. There was a mobile hanging from the side, ready to be hung up, with clouds and stars and moons. The yellow was a soft yellow. The floor was covered with soft mats, similar to futons but in pastel colors and solid. There was a wooden bookshelf on the side, crammed with books, both new and weathered. There was a wooden crate filled with toys, fluffy ninja summons, rubber kunai, plastic chains...

 _I'm beginning to notice a pattern._

I wiggled loose of my bindings and reached out for the toys. Kushina turned around so she could look at what I was pointing at. A grin etched across her face.

 _Mama is pretty._

"You wanna play?" She cooed at me. I whined, desperate for a form of entertainment.

Kakashi watched with interest, his face set on indifference but his eyes analyzing my response. Kushina walked over and placed me on the mat in front of the toys. Kakashi quietly meandering behind us.

I set my eyes determined at the toy box, reaching out-

But it was too far. I frowned, wanting to reach out for a lump that vaguely represented a cloud. I turned my head towards Kushina, only for my muscles to give out and my face to plant on the ground.

"Mmmmphhhrmmm," I whined. _Gimme it. Gimme it._ Kushina giggled and lifted my head up again, my neck muscles tired.

"Tummy time..." She cooed. I frowned, my body here to heavy to reach the toy. Tears of frustration gathered in my eye and I scrunched up my eyes ready to begin my wails.

"Here," Kakashi said as he brought forth a toy. It was the cloud one, the innocent smile and the classic anime sparkly eyes on his face. The moisture stopped filling my eyes and I opened my mouth.

I giggled.

They both froze, unsure of this new sound. I gurgled happily, squeezing the soft fabric of the soft cloud with my fists. It was so soft.

The corner of Kakashi's mouth twitched before he swiftly left my room. Stoic bastard. Kushina grinned, turning the crate over until I was surrounded by toys.

Rubber weapons, fake ninja wire, ninja plushies...

I looked around me, bewildered. Kushina placed the rubber kunai in my other hand, making sure to my fingers were curled around the handle.

 _Uhhhh..._

I directed the point towards my mouth and began gumming on it.

At this point, I'm not sure if I'm in a coma right now and everything is even real or everything is real and my prodigy brain seemed to have made up an entire possible timeline. But for now, I was content with trolling these possibly fiction, possibly real characters around me.

Kakashi's face couldn't be more disappointed in my choice of teethers.

* * *

"She's a lot more babbly now."

To the adults, my endearing baby babbles were a welcome replacement to the shrieking cries of the first weeks of my life. It's simple. Happy baby = happy parents. I'm pretty sure my neighbors were happier too.

"Yeah, that's practically all she does now." Minato called from his room. A grin broke out on my face.

My days were now filled with tummy time and tickle time and reading time. There was a lot of time, now that I wasn't spending every waking hour (which was probably 4 hours a day during my first few weeks) crying and eating. Add the fact that I didn't need as much sleep, I was now at that cute baby stage where they were awake and babbling.

Or talking in an arcane language which nobody understood.

I was a baby, I was allowed my own babbly language. Even if it might have actually been a language in the past.

They might have accurately translated a few of my made up language words to Japanese. But for me, it really was a language.

I think.

Shikaku Nara eyed me uneasily, as if expecting me to burst into tears. His hold on me felt tentative, as if he was prepared to thrust me back into Minato's arms as soon as the faintest trace of trouble appeared. To be fair, I had spent the last three months doing that whenever anyone was around.

I chewed earnestly on the blade of the rubber kunai, happily looking back at Shikaku.

 _Hehe._

I pulled the toy out of my mouth, letting it drop on the ground. Unfortunately the lazy Nara didn't pick it up for me.

" _Your hair looks like a pineapple._ " I said in broken English. Either my mind had conjured up an unpronounceable language or I had forgotten how to pronounce it. Whatever, it's baby babble to them. " _I like pineapple."_

"Isn't she adorable? She almost sounds like she's saying something." Minato peeked over at me over Shikaku's arms.

 _If only they knew._

At the sight of my adoptive father, I squealed. I crinkled my eyes into a smile as I accidentally slobbered over myself. The shadow-user twitched as some spit got on him. _Oops._

"Can you watch her for a couple of hours?" Papa scratched the back of his head. "Kushina wants to check out a new house."

"Are you sure?" Shikaku eyed me uneasily. I grinned.

"Yeah, she hasn't thrown a fit in a while. It's hard to even believe she used to cry before. She barely does now."

The last fit had been when Papa and Mama decided to dress me up in orange. No.

"Troublesome," which was most definitely a yes. "Where's her feeding schedule?"

Oh. That. Apparently parents here were anal about baby schedules. They were ninja, after all. Details mattered and you would never knew if somebody would need to watch your kids because you're called out to the warfront or you died or something like that.

Probably the detail things. Minato is in love with paperwork. I still don't understand how that's possible.

"It's on the fridge." Minato replied cheerily, mussing up my hair affectionately. "Next feeding is in 3 hours."

Then he twisted his chakra and was gone.

I gaped openmouthed at the lack of Papa. Even with how often he used his teleporting kunai thing, I could never get used to it on my chakra sense. Shikaku sighed before turning his attention back onto me.

"Troublesome," he studied me closely. Then he did something funny. He bowed. "Please take care of me."

I blinked and stared back. His eyes were brown, like a doe. Funny, being the Nara heir, that he would have deer eyes. I wonder what color my eyes are.

" _You always say everything is troublesome._ " I gurgled.

"Minato was right, babbling _is_ all you do now."

And just to prove him wrong, I fell asleep.

Okay, maybe I was just a teeny tiny bit tired.

* * *

"Come on Nari." Minato coaxed. "You can do it."

I looked up at him, my head on the squishy blanket. While I was laying on my back, Minato was laying down on his stomach in front of me- which was pretty cool. We were laying down together.

Not sure why but cool.

"You can do it!" He urged again. I turned my head to the side wondering what he was talking about. Do what?

"Minato... I don't think Nari is old enough to roll yet." Kushina called from my right side. Oh, that's what he was talking about. I frowned, unable to turn around to face her. That's annoying.

"You wanna bet?" Minato hedged. Mentally, I rolled my eyes. He's such a teenage boy.

"Sure," I heard Mama giggle and my eyes darted towards the right.

 _I wanna see Mama._

Papa noticed my eye movement and grinned. "If she gets it today, no ramen for a week."

I paused. The smell of ramen was almost a daily occurrence in the house. It was slightly aggravating considering the fact that I couldn't have any.

"Okay, then your punishment would be that you can't use Hiraishin within the village for a week."

Papa bit his bottom lip but still nodded.

I considered this. It really didn't have any impact on me because we rarely went out.

 _Looks like I'm rolling today._

"Nari," Papa staged whispered. "We have to team up and beat Mama. Okay? Can you do that for me."

I gazed at him seriously before nodding. Papa beamed, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like smart baby while he patted my head. I gurgled happily.

Then, he pulled himself to his knees and shifted to my right.

Where I couldn't see him.

My bottom lip wobbled. _Why'd he just leave?_ It was silly but I couldn't help but feel the slightest bit betrayed.

"Awww Nari. Don't cry. Papa's right here."

I tried to lift my right shoulder up, which while strenuous, wasn't impossible. My muscles though, were really working for it. And gravity wasn't doing any favor. But I was successfully able to lay on my side.

"Come on Nari! Just like that! See!"

I could see Mama leaning on the doorway, a grin on her face. She scrunched her nose.

"She has to at least get on her stomach."

 _Okay then._

I pushed my head forward, flailing my feet out uselessly. They weren't coordinated enough to touch the floor at the moment. But my head seemed heavy enough to tilt me in the right direction...

I lifted my head up towards the end of the roll, a proud smile etching its way up.

 _I DI-_

And my body rolled back onto my back..

 _My head is too heavy to lift midroll. Okay. Got that._

Kushina giggled at my disgruntled expression. Papa glared at her.

"She's gonna get it tonight. Trust me."

I tried again.

Swing my right arm to the side. Place face down onto the blanket. Flail feet. _Squirm._

I landed up, my chest trapping my left arm. Minato's smile grew... _Shit, my center of gravity is off._ My left arm was in the fucking way.

I lifted my head and felt myself land on my side.

Minato's grin didn't drop though. If anything, he seemed more excited.

"See! She'll get it today!"

Mama's eyes twinkled. "We'll see."

Swing my right arm to the side. Place face down onto the blanket. Push feet onto the blanket- it's too slippery. Squirm. Squirm. Wiggle...

 _Almost there..._

I flailed my feet again, surprising myself when I found purchase on the blanket.

 _No ramen..._

I squealed in effort as I pushed myself right side up and quickly leaned on my right arm. Hesitantly, I lifted my head up.

I did it.

And Papa lifted me up into his arms.

"YEAHH!" Minato cheered, throwing me up in the air. I screeched happily. "YOU DID IT! NARI DID IT! NARI'S THE BEST!"

Mama laughed, a broad grin on her face. She didn't seem the slightest bit upset about losing the bet, but she did look awfully proud. "Nari rolled over! She rolled over-bane! She did it!"

"This calls for a celebration!" Minato grinned, clutching me close to him. It wouldn't do to have me throw up on him from motion sickness, after all.

"Oooo. Should we go out and buy her a new toy?" Kushina was basically bouncing.

"Lots of toys."

"And lots of clothes."

"And-"

"Tadaima." Kakashi's voice echoed through the hallway, followed by the shutting door. Kushina and Minato immediately left the room, a skip in both of their steps.

Kakashi was putting on his house slippers, carrying a brown paper bag.

"Okaeri!" They beamed. The silver haired boy looked bemused at their expressions.

"Guess what, Kakashi?" Minato sounded like he was the kid talking to the adult, which was funny because it should be the other way around.

"What?" He sounded suspicious, glancing from the too broad smiles on both of his guardian's faces to my own satisfied expression. One of his eyebrows rose.

"Nari rolled on her own!" Mama exclaimed loudly- what am I saying. She yelled.

"This calls for a celebration!" Papa bounced me up and down.

Kakashi blinked, then held out the brown paper bag.

"I brought home Ichiraku because I thought you'd want a break from cooking."

Papa and Mama exchanged a look.

"Punishment starts tomorrow." They decided unanimously.

I frowned.

 _Cheaters._

* * *

 _"Food"_ I whined in Korean. _Food."_

"No, Nari. Not _bap_ Milk."

I whined more, internally grinning of Kakashi's exasperation. The table was set and Kushina had just gone to get my own meal. Kakashi had the foresight to bring 12 bowls for Kushina, 4 for Minato, and had bought one for himself.

I, unfortunately, had to watch them eat it. And now I was starving.

"Nari~ time for ' _bap_ " Kushina dragged out the last word, bringing in my bottle and handing it to Kakashi. I squealed, happily, grabbing for the formula, which Kakashi wisely kept away from me.

 _I'm really glad that I was adopted. Breastfeeding would have been pretty awkward._

Kakashi had insisted that he would feed me while Kushina and Minato ate their food. Good big brother and all. I think he just didn't feel like taking off his mask for some reason. Papa and Mama's friends have been popping by often enough that Kakashi didn't walk around unmasked that often.

"So how was your day?" Minato asked. Mama was too busy inhaling her ramen to speak. After all, she wouldn't get to eat it for an entire week after today.

I gobbled my own meal greedily. Kakashi glanced at me before changing the angle of the bottle. It wouldn't do for me to drink so fast or I might spit up on him.

"It was okay... There was a D rank babysitting mission for one of the noble's son. He's around Nari's age so it was pretty easy. I also ran into that Uchiha kid from the ninjutsu contest last year."

"Which contest was that?" Kushina asked as she changed her finished bowl for a new one. I think that was number 6.

"The one where I used that Earth jutsu you taughted me."

The atmosphere was so warm. I was almost done with my bottle, my eyelids were getting a bit heavy...

"Ahh... How did you end up seeing him again?" Minato asked.

"Well..."


	3. Chapter 3: Body Scrolls

**Holy shit sorry for the late update.**

 **My anxiety has been acting up crazily. Haven't been to school in 2 months. . Doing homeschooling now though- hoping that my universities don't reject me because of this. Still kinda don't have a real beta so review and let me know about any mistakes because those are inevitable.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Body scrolls**

The thing about being reincarnated in a world where nothing makes sense is that you can't ever tell what's normal.

My eyes were clear by the fourth week. My mind focused by the eighth. And by the time I was twelve weeks old, I had sufficient control of my limbs. I don't know if this was the norm though; perhaps chakra sped everything up or the genes of surviving ninjas were overpowered. Maybe a bit of both.

What really was overpowered as hell was the fact that I could remember a great deal of Japanese from my previous life. Granted, Sori was never fluent at it being only a quarter Japanese but I could still understand most things. There weren't really many differences in this world, despite a couple of slang and sayings. The kanji and the alphabets were all identical- _Thank god, I'm not learning those from scratch again._

But from what the adults knew, I couldn't read yet. (I didn't have the motor functions in order to move my tongue and mouth that well; Drool was everywhere.) But I was grateful to be able to understand what my not-blobs, I mean my guardians, were saying. Everyone was always loose-lipped around infants.

 _Especially_ teenagers.

That was another thing that I found weird. Back home, sixteen was a young age to have a child- an age that was looked down upon. But here, Kushina was congratulated for the early age to have a child. Considering the average age span, it made sense. The earlier she gave birth, the more ninjas she could produce for the village. Especially if she was rebuilding the Uzumaki clan. It helps that certain clans (*cough cough* Uchihas and Hyuuga) were notorious for spewing out kids early.

And considering the fact that Naruto had saved the world at age sixteen...

I was technically older than my parents. Which was weird. But when you account for how quickly ninjas matured here (After all, genins were considered legal adults) plus the fact that my mind was currently heavily influenced by the hormones and emotions of my body...

I don't think age will ever be a simple concept for me.

On the other hand, nobody had any notion of my adoption I looked like Kushina, fiery red hair and all. And red hair wasn't common in this area. Plus, assuming that my father was the prodigious future-Hokage Minato, it would only be suiting for the offspring of the Yellow Flash and Red Hot Habanero to be a genius infant.

If I had the memory of a regular baby, I don't even think I would find out the truth of my parenthood.

I could never tell if Kakashi knew the truth. He never really interacted with me that often and the times he _did_ babysit me somehow always ended up with either him being all embarrassed or somebody dying.

Like the time he accidentally dyed his clothes the same green as Gai...

Or the time his hair caught on fire.

And the infamous kunai incident.

But I digress.

Kakashi was weird. He watched me when Kushina asked him. He got annoyed and groaned in frustration when I had cried through the night. (But that stopped after Minato had bought him a set of earplugs.) He stared at me stoically and didn't exactly treat me like an infant.

 _He still didn't think I was that cute._

But he did little things that I thought that maybe he did think I was adorable. He read me picture books (in that perfectly detached, emotionless voice.) He handed me toys (if only to keep me from bursting into tears.) Like Kushina, he also made sure I was holding the toy kunai and shuriken properly. (And then he would sigh and shake his head when I would gum on the blades.)

But he mostly did these things when people weren't there to witness it.

Kushina and Minato never spoke of my seemingly odd fondness for Kakashi. But they would often share knowing smiles to each other when I insisted on clinging to Kakashi during dinner. He would ignore them (and me!) and bury himself in the food.

Speaking of food, recently I've been wanting something to actually chew rather than the warm, sweet formula that made up my current diet. I missed the taste of rice, the feeling of chewing. I seemed to be teething quickly so I resorted to gumming the hell out of all the rubber kunais Minato got me to ease my sore gums. ( _Much to everyone's displeasure. Heheh)_

I think that's why, at around 3 months, I heard the unmistakable sound of the blender in the kitchen. I was still figuring out the crawling thing so I just gurgled happily in the soft blanket I was laying on the ground. Kushina dressed me in a brand new orange bib ( _the bright color was actually pretty nice on my eyes_ _)_ and placed me in the brand new wooden high chair at the table. Minato put down the yellow plastic bowl which was filled with a soft, mushy green porridge. Even Kakashi was there, leaning against the fridge while eating a banana.

Kushina dabbed a bit of the green food at the corner of my mouth and I cried in frustration as she took away the spoon. I was fully aware that it was food. I licked my lips, surprised at the taste. It was avocado. I didn't even think they'd have something this foreign in this world- I didn't even think they would have avocados in Japan. It was slightly sweet and creamy, tasting a bit like my formula. I opened my mouth like a baby bird, eager for more food.

In 5 minutes I was done with the miniscule amount of food they fed me. Then it was formula again. I was frustrated, my hair, was curiously rising up in anger. I had always assumed that Kushina's hair snaked up because it was a Kyuubi thing, having nine sections to stand for the tails. It looked like it was more Uzumaki than Kyuubi because my frustrations were making my hair rise with what I assume was my miniscule chakra capacity.

"No!" I blurted in anger. "No!" Minato's mouth dropped open in a perfect "O." _Oops._

Kushina's eyes widened as well, before she collapsed within giggles. "She has Uzumaki temper. That's for sure."

Minato pouted, "I wanted her first word to be papa."

 _Gah. If you gimme more food it might be._

Kakashi seemed to have read my mind because suddenly, the last inch of a peeled banana was in my hand. Quickly before Kushina could take it away, I proceeded to gum it to death, careful that it was mushy enough so I wouldn't choke.

"Kakashi!" Kushina scolded, appalled. "She could've choked on that piece!"

He shrugged, "She's smarter than you think."

I swallowed my banana and raised my banana-mush-coated arms up for Kakashi to lift me. He eyed me warily as I plastered on my sweetest smile.

"Gaga!" I babbled. _The "k" sound is really hard to make._ "Kaga!"

Minato's face was hidden in the shadow of his disappointment. "She said Kakashi's name first."

Kushina beamed and picked me up. "You're so smart Nari!

I giggled and rubbed the banana mush into Kushina's red hair but she was too busy beaming at me to notice. Oops.

Kakashi rolled his eyes before leaving the kitchen. Papa looked at him fondly.

* * *

Once upon a time, Kushina decided that I needed some social interaction.

Social stimulation.

 _A playdate._

 _Ew Ew Ew._

But for once, it wasn't that bad.

Okay, it started out pretty shitty.

I had heard her say this term many times but I had no idea as to what she was planning. I knew something was up though. Somebody was coming. Or, they were planning on leaving me with Bakashi again which really wasn't a good idea. (See "Infamous Kunai Incident" above.) I was laying on my stomach on the play mat surrounded by all of my toys. And when I say all of them, I mean all of them. Even the picture books and the blocks and the brand new rubber kunai I didn't get around to chewing. I preferred to gum on one kunai at a time, saving my new kunai gummers for when my gums were really aching.

Kushina was in the kitchen preparing my baby food. Thankfully, they had gotten around to feeding me much more of that lately. Not just the avocado stuff but sometimes fruit puree like mangoes and apple sauce and bananas. They tended to mix my formula in. Sometimes they would feed me some of that soft baby crackers that were sweet and tasted like veggies or fruits. I hated when they fed me steamed veggies though. My tongue was still really sensitive to bitter tastes.

 _Ugh. Now I'm hungry again._

 _I do love food. I wonder if I'm part Akimichi. Didn't Choza have red hair? Maybe he's part Uzumaki. I wonder if they feed Akimichi clan children different food because they relied on body fat so much. I frowned. Why couldn't I have been born into the Akimichi family_ _?_ Food is amazing. I was salivating at the thought of perfectly grilled korean bbq and ice cream. _Ooo Ice cream would be good on my gums._

I eyed the brand new kunai that was just out of my reach. Maybe I should get down to chewing that.

I stretched my arm out and reached for it, grunting in effort. The blender in the kitchen paused and I heard Red putting the stuff down. Ooo maybe she was done with my food. I'm starving. As she left the kitchen and I looked up at her expectantly. _Ugh, she wasn't holding my bowl. Why the hell was she making my food now then?!_ I gave her puppy eyes and stared back at the new rubber kunai longingly. She just giggled.

 _No! She's so MEAN!_

Yellow would've given me the kunai and understood what I want. Red was just too oblivious. Even Kaga would be nice enough to give me my kunai. I pouted as I wiggled like a caterpillar trying to force my body to inch across the mat.

But it looked like I still wasn't ready to crawl. The door knocked at that moment. Kushina stared at me and then let out a giggle before going to get the door. Damn it.

"Arigato. I brought my nephew with me just like you wanted. Hopefully the little ones will occupy themselves while we chat."

I cocked my head. I recognized that voice as Mikoto-san. She came by often with tea and biscuit and to chat with Red. Hope filled me as I thought about her. Mikoto would surely give me my gummer. She wasn't oblivious like Kushina.

She came into the room holding a young boy in her arms. He was probably 6 or 7 months old. Pale, pretty face, dark eyes and hair. A typical Uchiha baby. I frowned and tugged at my short red hair.

 _Is he cuter than me? I think he was cuter than me._

Then the corresponding thought: _How dare he?_

Then Mikoto walked towards me and placed the baby down next to me. He stared at me curiously, his big eyes sparkled. I humphed and inched slightly away. I didn't like how he looked.

 _I should be the cutest. Mmph._

"Hi Nari... This is Shisui. I brought him here so you could play together while me and your mommy talk. You guys are gonna be best friends and today will be super fun. So be nice, okay?" Mikoto said super duper softly.

Gah. I have a weakness for those ladies who talk to me in that super duper soft voice. It's like a caress to my ears when I spend almost all day with Kushina. Although Minato has a soft voice, it's still gruff and more fond than the super duper sweet way women can talk. And Kakashi's quiet voice is just really really bland when he's talking to me. It's like he speaks in monotone on _purpose._

 _He probably does. Emotionless ninja and all that._

So I sighed though and nodded at the Uchiha lady's request. Mikoto smiled and let us be. She and Kushina sat at one of those low wooden tables as they ate some dango Mikoto had made and drank jasmine tea. It smelled divine. If only I could eat it.

I turned my attention back at Shisui who had his fist in his mouth. He stared at me with curiosity, slowly bringing his other hand up to grab a lock of my hair. And he pulled. Hard.

I rolled my eyes and huffed in distaste. Maybe if I ignore him he'll leave me alone. My gaze fell back onto that wonderful kunai. It was so close but so far...

Then I realized that Shisui had noticed. He smiled at me, cocking his head to the side like I always did when I was curious about something. Then he did something that made hope rise from the bottom of my stomach. He crawled over to the kunai and reached it out to me.

 _Maybe this is the beginning of my first friendship. Maybe he's not so bad. Maybe Mikoto is right about us being best friends._

Then the devil spawn did the worst thing possible. Before I could grab the kunai, he put the blade in his mouth and began gumming it as hard as he can, his tiny surfacing teeth making bite marks on the _brand new rubber surface._

I whined frustrated and outraged. That was my gummer for _my_ sore teeth. Tears threatened to wet my eyes. The natural emotions of this body were hard to resist. _I_ _take back the best friends part! Mikoto was WRONG!_

He looked up and stared at me before crawling away, probably fearing that I would try to take it back. I wasn't sure if I wanted it back. _Ugh. It was so disgusting, so frustrating. It just wasn't fair! My toy in HIS mouth. Ewww._

 _What did I do in my previous life to deserve this misfortune! How could Kami forsake me like this! Ugh. NO! It's not fair!_

I glared at the sitting twerp, furious beyond belief. _I was mad enough to call him a twerp_ _._ His head jerked towards mine, eyes wide. Then, they narrowed and glared back. The unfairness of this situation wasn't lost to me. _I couldn't crawl that quickly. This wasn't a test of will or skill. He was just older than me. I'm physically too weak and I'm three months younger. It's just not fair!_

The atmosphere of the living room became tenser and tenser as Shisui and I glared at each other. We both refused to look away but we flared our feathers as we waited for the other to surrender. This was my territory. That was _my_ kunai. He wouldn't win.

"That's enough!"

Shisui and I both looked away and at the voice. Mikoto's tone was sharp, a stark contrast from that super duper soft voice she usually used on me. I realized with a frown that she probably used that voice on Shisui too. I hadn't even realized that Kushina and Mikoto had stopped talking to watch the exchange between Shisui and me.

"Shisui, I thought you knew better! That was a no-no, taking her toy! And you too Nari! You have to learn to _share_ _._ "

I sulked and turned my head away. Shisui did the same, crossing his arms and pouting. There was no way I would deal with that jerk. He disturbed _my_ territory and now he dare turn _Mikoto against me! I did nothing wrong!_

 _'Cept get mad over a rubber kunai. Kami Sori. Shisui's is half a year old and you're mentally eighteen. You'd be an adult in your old life._

I paused at that thought. _Sori? Was Sori my previous name?_

 _When had I forgotten that? What was my last name? What else did I forget?_

In my panic, I didn't even notice that Mikoto and Kushina had picked Shisui and me up. The door to my room slid open and I felt myself being placed in my crib. I turned my head and Shisui was next to me.

Normally I would have been furious that they had put me in my prison. But instead, I was silent and pale as I tried to recall the Naruto plot line as best as I could. There were missing pieces, I knew it. I won't even be able to write what I remembered down until over a year. I couldn't remember a lot of things clearly besides Naruto's birth and Kakashi's life and parts of the Uchiha massacre, which had been my favorite parts. How was I gonna change things for the better when I didn't even know what would happen?

I began to sniffle and whine as I thought of this.

During my revelation, Shisui was protesting and shrieking against our imprisonment. He was pretty loud and had quieted down to sniffles and whining as well. Normally I would have been shrieking alongside him. But now, it seemed so unimportant compared to the gravity of the future that I had forgotten about. Everything felt unimportant compared to the future. I felt sick to my stomach realizing that the baby next to me would end up committing _suicide_. He too would be affected by the future, unaware of the risks he would face. Suddenly, I felt a need to comfort the sulking child next to me.

I reached my hand up and grabbed his hand. He topped down next to me and bumped his head on the bars. Oops. But he got the message and laid next to me. We sniffled and sulked together, eventually falling asleep.

That's how Mikoto and Kushina would find us. Huddled together in the crib for warmth and napping peacefully, our hands still intertwined.

He was very cuddly.

Mikoto was right about the best friends part.

* * *

"And the kunai went slash! and off went the **head** rolling down the little hill~" Papa sang cheerily.

"Adama?" I asked, pausing my hand motion in our singing clapping game thing. The hand motion hadn't indicated anything for the definition of the word.

"Atama," Minato's finger circulated around his face.

I blinked.

 _Wow that's morbid._

Before I could voice my thought on the matter, I felt somebody arrive on the doorstep.

Papa must've too, because he swiftly picked me up from the blanket and went to answer the door even before the person knocked. I blinked, cocking my head to the side. _It doesn't feel like Auntie Mikoto..._

"Minato- Sandaime-sama wanted to speak to you." Shikaku drawled.

I blinked, noting the lack of honorifics. _He must be close to Papa._

"Hai, did he say what for?"

"He mentioned something about your scarecrow." A sigh. "He sent me down to tell you, so troublesome..."

"Here," Minato pushed me into the stranger's arms. I blinked, looking up at the face, a little unsure of how to react. I kinda wanna feel his scars. "Watch Nari for a moment. You won't be able to take her outside though. We haven't taken down the security seals yet."

"Wait! How-" The man started only for Papa to flicker away. I blinked and looked up at the poor, unfortunate soul.

"Ano," He said, looking at me straight in the eye. "I'm Shikaku Nara. We met when you were tiny but you probably don't remember that. Your father-" An irritated glance towards the spot where Papa disappeared, "went to talk to the Sandaime."

 _I bet Shikamaru's dad is a huge softy._

I smiled cheekily. "Ojiiiiii?"

He chortled at that. "Oji. Jiraiya would be ojiiii." He mimicked the sound. I giggled.

Shikamaru's father sighed and collapsed on the couch, keeping an eye on me warily. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he was going to collapse. I crawled out of his arms and, cuddled to his side. His eyes fluttered closed.

He was warm...

Then I felt somebody land on the roof, above us- crinkling, crackling. I blinked, scrambling down the couch, bouncing a bit when I landed on my rear end. But it's okay, the cloth diapers here are super cushy. I began to wiggle across the living room, at a noticeably sedate pace.

 _Crawling was tiring. Ugh._

But Kakashi had already gotten in through the window of his room. Shikaku opened an eye when he felt the new chakra within the area but closed it quickly after verifying the lack of stress.

Anyways, Mama said that if somebody tried to get in through the security scroll, they would go _zap!_

"Tadaima..." Kakashi called out, amongst the cluttering of him unloading his mission gear.

Note: Mama made a rule for Papa and Kaka- no weapons near baby until she could at least stand. Heh.

"Okaeri..." I squealed, my crawling effort renewed. I was in the hallway before Kakashi quickly left his room, shutting the door closed quickly behind him.

I pouted. I wanted to see a real kunai.

He stared, eyes crinkled before sighing and picking me up. He glanced at the sleeping Shikaku (I think he was probably pretending to sleep, to be honest.) and sat me on his lap on the sofa across the couch.

Kakashi was pretty enamored by me right now. Heheh. _I_ _was cute._

"Play!" I turned my body to face him, lifting my hands up. Of course, unlike me, Kakashi would actually know the words. And actually be able to pronounce them.

"Missing ninja, missing ninja, where did you hide?"

His monotone voice punctuated by my giggles was pretty loud.

Shikaku was _definitely_ pretending to sleep.

* * *

I stared out the window in wonder.

 _Snow._

It covered the windowsill like fluffy down, turning the entire village into something innocent and magical. It came down in light flurries, reminding me more of feathers and fairies than of tiny pieces of ice. The people in the streets were bundled up, laughing with their scarves wrapped warmly around them. It reminded me of Christmas.

Of back then.

I smiled softly, humming to myself a Christmas carol that I had forgotten the name of as I stayed in that empty void between my world and this one. It was familiar, something about a holy evening? My perch on the head of the couch by the window was warm, the seals Mama had drawn on the window to keep the heating in were working. I sighed contently staring down below.

"Papa?" I called, feeling his chakra in the kitchen. Minato was rarely home so I usually tended to call for Mama first. But these days, Papa was home more often then Mama. Apparently, he had taken out an entire platoon all by himself last week.

His footsteps soon followed. The sound of his footsteps were from a conscious effort as to not startle me. Though startling me was rare in itself after I figured out whose chakra was whose. The only way to startle me was to use a body flicker.

Kakashi liked to experiment on ways to sneak up on me.

"Hi Nari! You want Papa?" Minato's eyes lighting up as he settled on the sofa behind me. His hands came around my stomach to stabilize me on my seating. I nodded and pointed out the window.

"Look," I said quietly, my eyes watching the crystals falling to the earth.

"That's snow, Nari." He said softly. "It's like ice but colder."

"Snow," I repeated, my eyes fixated on the glittering blizzard. "Pweddy..."

"Yes, it's very pretty..." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Would you like to feel it?"

I nodded my head vigorously. He chuckled and leaned forward before tapping the seal on the window. Then, he slid the glass pane open.

His hand scooped up a small mountain of snow from the windowsill and he brought it towards me. The cold air and soft flurries escaping into the room felt invigorating, refreshing. I hadn't noticed how warm the apartment was, it was always cozy.

Carefully, I poked the mountain of snow with my index finger. Leaving a small indent in it. It felt a little wet, but almost sticky. Perfect snowman building snow. A giggle crept out of my mouth.

"Snow." I grinned before poking it again. Another giggle.

The Yellow Flash smiled and ruffled my hair.

It wasn't stargazing yet but it was something.

* * *

"Kakashi!" Mama called. I looked up from my picture book, tilting my head to the side. (And almost toppling over. My head was heavy.) Mama was dressed up in her kunoichi outfit, her hair in a high pony tail. _Where was she going?_ "Kakashi! Come down here!"

I lifted my arms up in the universal (literally) sign for _hold me._ Mom obliged and I hid my face into the crook of her neck, picking up the sweet ink smell. Kakashi flitted into the room, his steps silent as always but his chakra comfortably unsuppressed in the safety of home.

"Hai?" He said, his mask and weapon pouch were on. My hand itched to take off the mask.

"Can you watch Nari-chan for an hour? I was called to the Hokage's office for a meeting." She said as she shifted me in her arms. "Might be a bit longer, actually. I have to pick up dinner."

I frowned at the words. _She was leaving? Noooooo._

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably. "Ano- I have a mission in a half hour..."

"Is it urgent?"

"It's an outpost watch."

Kushina waved her hand dismissively. "I'll tell Sandaime you can't go. For Kami's sake, You've been going on multiple missions a day; you've already met quota." Then a wicked glint in her eye as she faked sadness. "You haven't been spending that much time with your sister though..."

"I'll watch her," Kakashi said, although he eyed me warily. The last few times haven't been that successful for him. But Kushina dropped the act and smiled.

"Don't worry. It's only an hour." She said as she ruffled his hair and handed me over. Immediately, my hand went towards Kakashi's mask, which his own hand intercepted. Kushina giggled as I stared intently at the blue fabric covering his face. Almost missing Kushina's silent departure from the house.

Key word. Almost.

The feeling of her chakra was now a constant on my mind. I wasn't exactly sure of the range, but I could usually tell when Kushina were on their way home, waiting by the window or door for several minutes until their shining faces appeared. Minato was a little less predictable, but the warmth of his seals buzzing with energy usually gave me a split second warning. His seals covered the house, lacing the ground with his chakra every few meters. It was comforting, being surrounded by his chakra.

But when I could feel Kushina' s chakra get farther and farther away from me... The betrayal was inexplicable. How dare she? I keened in Kakashi's arm, which he shifted uncomfortably. Kushina's chakra paused at my sound of displeasure, buzzing unevenly with guilt or nerves or something. Stay, I silently begged.

Only to hear the door close and watch her chakra slowly meander farther away.

"No!" I screeched unhappily. "NO! Mama!"

I huffed and cried unhappily, as Kakashi held me stoically in his arms. He rocked me slowly in the living room strewed with my neglected toys and picture books and moving boxes as I sulked and whined and wailed. He didn't give me any extra attention, opting to let my tantrum carry out. After all, he probably thought it would tire me out to sleep.

We were moving soon, though Mama haven't told me exactly when. Mama and Papa did let me know that the security seals were down. They even showed me how they did it.

Taking down seals were awesome. Everything glowed blue and the air felt all crackly and exhilarating and when the seal was released, the atmosphere was just so quiet.

I sniffled, finally run out of tears. I was a bit tired but unhappiness made me stubborn. I pouted and looked at Kakashi's mask.

His hand intercepted mine.

"Mama," I whined. His eyes bored into mine before he sighed.

"She'll be back in 56 minutes.""

"Mama."

"Why don't we play with your toys? I'll read that book to you?"

"Mama."

"How bout a cookie? You like cookies don't you?"

I perked up at that. "Cookie?"

He relaxed at the absence of my sullen tone. "Cookie." He confirmed as he carried me to the kitchen. I cuddled into his neck, inhaling the weird doggy and metallic smell that clung to him. While Papa always smelled like polishing oil, Kakashi always smelled like tin foil and mint. Somehow it worked with the doggy smell. I don't know how.

He reached up towards the second cabinet next to the fridge, quickly taking out the cookie tin and handing me a rice cracker. I smiled at that. Cookie. Quickly I proceeded to gum on it, appreciating the way the cracker was slowly disintegrating into mush under my gums. Kakashi stared at me for a moment before shaking his head.

"You," he said quietly. "No telling Kushina-san about cookie. Okay? Or she'll go after me and you won't get any."

I nodded fervently before proceeding to munch on the cookies. I was savoring the slight salty-sweetness of my snack. _Rice crackers are the best!_

Kakashi sighed as he prepared a light meal for the day. This time, a warm rice porridge to lull me to sleep. I watched him flit around the kitchen while absentmindedly keeping tabs for mama coming back.

There were a group of children playing outside nearby. A genin team, one chakra seeming exasperated while the other two seemed to be arguing with each other. A cat was crawling across the street. A ninja was slowly meandering our way, his chakra signature suppressed but still gurgling like a stream.

I frowned. _Was that Anbu? I hope it wasn't Root._

Kakashi seemed oblivious to my unease, quietly tasting the rice porridge before setting it aside to cool. I puffed my cheek. Kakashi wouldn't let anything happen.

And then I froze, letting out a shriek of alarm. _It was in our house!_

Kakashi jerked around, his hands reaching for me and trying to soothe my sudden wails. Fear clutched me as reason fell away from my mind. The hormones of this body allowed emotions to take over and I couldn't think of anything but the slowly creeping chakra inching across the top floor.

"What's wrong? Nari? Does something hurt?" Kakashi said as he held me close, unsure of what to do. I shuddered.

"Out! Out!" I begged. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You have to eat," He said sternly. "Playground is for daytime. It's nighttime right now. The sun is setting. See?"

He pointed out the window, where the sky was a mismatch of pinks and oranges and reds. I wailed uncomfortably, the ninja was by the stairs, so close. So close.

"No! Out!" I shrieked. Kakashi's eye twitched at my tantrum. I wiggled out of his arms and onto the ground, squirming towards the door.

On hindsight, that was a stupid idea.

Come on, I could barely crawl!

Suddenly, a pair of arms, a sharp smell of almonds and dust. I cried out as the foreign arms lifted me up and darted out towards the door.

Kakashi's chakra sharpened into a blade before I felt it pulse and I was on the cold wooden floor of the hallway. I rolled my side to see what was happening. The ninja, a young man with dark hair and eyes, was carrying Kakashi bridal style. His face was drawn out in an utter look of surprise while Kakashi looked murderous.

It was absolutely absurd.

Kakashi, however, wasted no time. He quickly flipped out of the ninja's arms, picking me up and pulsing chakra into his body as we body flickered into my room. I blinked, dizzy at the abrupt experience. Papa's Hiraishin felt a lot _smoother._

Kakashi's chakra was buzzing rapidly.

The enemy ninja had reached us though, a bit faster than Kakashi. Fear gripped me and I let loose a whimper at the suffocating atmosphere around us. Killer intent. What Shisui and I had exuded a couple of months ago was child's play in comparison. Kakashi glanced at me for that split second.

The enemy attacked, kunai aiming for Kakashi's head. But Kakashi drew his sword from his back, not able to take the sword out complete but barely managing to catch the kunai on the blade. The enemy reached towards me and Kakashi jerked me back and lightly tossed me into my crib. I wailed in surprise as my back hit the wooden bars, it didn't really hurt.

Kakashi stood between me and the enemy. Their gazes were piercing into each other as they both pushed into their respective weapons. The sound of metal grazing against each other made my blood run cold.

"What does Kumo want from a Konoha child?" Kakashi gritted out. The enemy's eyes flickered towards me for a second before he smirked.

"Wouldn't you like to know, kid." The man's tone was mocking but his chakra felt strung out, tense. My bottom lip jutted out wobbling.

"My bad. What does Kiri want with Konoha?" The man's eyes widened at Kaka's words.

"She's stolen property!" The Kiri nin snarles as he pulled back his kunai quickly and went to pierce at Kakashi again.

Kakashi's leg hooked behind the man's knee but it didn't pull the leg out. No, the man was using his chakra to reinforce himself to the floor. Kakashi felt the resistance and used it to pull himself up, flipping backwards and using the momentum to kick the man midair. The man caught Kakashi's leg, hand wrapping around the ankle.

He squeezed.

Only to meet the resistance of Kakashi's weights. Kakashi's other leg touched the ground and the man didn't let go of his ankle fast enough. Kakashi turned around quickly, his sword aimed towards the neck of the man. The ninja leaned back and cursed as the sword got a shallow cut in.

My heart felt like it was going to stop in fear.

Kakashi quickly ducked low, bending his right knee completely and reinforcing his left leg as he swung it out towards the enemy nin. The ninja stumbled and Kakashi used it as an opportunity to swing, his punch knocking the man into the wall. The imposter slumped down, eyes closed.

But his chakra was still buzzing.

Kakashi turned towards me, relief evident in his face. My body froze. _This idiot!_

I gripped the textured bar of the crib and squeezed it in a death grip. "Gaka!" I shrieked in warning, fear exuding off of me.

His eyes, still opened in surprise, rolled backwards as he slumped forward. It only took a split second for the man to sneak up on Kakashi and hit the pressure point on his neck.

"Now, that's over with." The man muttered. "Time to take the brat and get going."

I inched backwards in my crib, but there was nothing I could do. My eyes watered in fear as I whimpered. Papa... I thought desperately. I want Papa.

"Come on..." The man tried to soothe me as he lifted me out of the crib gently. "Don't be afraid. I'm sure you'll like Kiri just fine. Do you like ice cream? We have ice cream there."

I nodded timidly at the man as he rambled words, my tears still falling down. _Papa. Mama. I'm scared._

And then I felt the bars of my crib swell...

"You're getting ice cream without me? Wow now that's cold, Nari." A new voice joined in, falsely cheerful. I inhaled, taking in the smell of pine leaves and polishing oil that he brought. The man holding me froze and let go of me, straight into the crib. The back of my head lightly bumped the wooden bars. I winced.

Papa's eyes flashed dangerously.

And then, with the dragging of a kunai, the ninja's head fell on the ground.

I froze, uneased by the blood splattering my face and the toys in my crib. Minato let go of the body, his eyes staring at it with disgust. I shimmied backwards, unused to this version of Papa. He glanced at me for a moment before turning to examine Kakashi, checking his neck for a pulse. After lifting Kakashi and placing him in a more comfortable position on a baby pink floor mat, he slowly approached me.

We were both splattered with blood. My white onesie was dark. But the dark splatters of blood were unnoticeable on Papa's uniform. Shyly, I looked up at him and lifted my arms up. In the security of his arms, I closed my eyes and leaned my head against his shoulder. His hands glided over me as he checked to see I was injured anywhere, spending extra time rubbing the back of my head in the spot that had hit the crib.

"Why don't we get you cleaned up?" Papa said calmly, as if I had just been playing with food rather than almost kidnapped. But his eyes were still sharp and analyzing for potential threats. I cuddled closer to him, my nose in the crook of his neck.

The smell of pine needles and polishing oil was masked by the blood, but it was still there.

As he filled up the large kitchen sink with lukewarm water, Papa flared out his chakra in an odd pattern. Two short, one long, and one short. I was sitting naked on the marble countertop. Minato tested the water with his hand before gently laying me in the sink. I splashed the water, ignoring how the water turned a rose hue as it got the dried blood off of me. I felt Mama's chakra nearby just as he was shampooing my red locks. I turned my head quickly, his hands getting baby shampoo in my eyes.

"Ow," I whined as Minato chuckled.

"Don't move your head while I'm shampooing then," He replied.

"Mama." I whined. Minato paused in his shampooing before flaring out his chakra again. Two short, one long, one short.

Then Mama's chakra did the same before I felt her chakra quickly hone in. The door open with a bang and I jerked again. Shampoo in your eyes is the worst.

"Oh," Kushina smiled at the scene, me fussing about shampoo in my eyes and Minato's flustered apologies. Mama sounded a bit confused. "I thought Kakashi was supposed to be watching Nari."

"There was an unexpected visitor." Minato replied casually as he rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. I whined at the tugging motion. "Kakashi tired himself out entertaining him. He's okay though, just napping in Nari's room."

"I see." The words came out quietly and I shuddered. Mama acting quietly was scary. Very very scary. I glanced behind Papa to look at her.

Yup. I took in the rising strands of hair, counting all nine tails and the thin line of her mouth. She's scary.

My hand itched to grab a floating strand of hair, childish curiosity wanting to see what made it float. Was chakra surrounding it or was the hair chakra infused? But Mama was out of my reach.

"Is Nari alright?" She asked, slowly walking forward and looking at me. I reached out towards her, my body slippery from the bath. "Does anything hurt Nari?"

I blinked at the question before shaking my head. "Cookie?" I requested quietly, full force of puppy eyes.

The quest for cookies NEVER pauses.

And because kidnapping attempt and puppy eyes, Kushina did get me a cookie. Not a rice puff but a real cookie- chocolate chip. My mouth watered at the thought of chocolate and added sugar. She didn't even give me half of it. I got to eat the entire thing as Minato drained the sink.

Kushina sighed and held me, newly clothed in a pink onesie, as we headed upstairs. Minato had gone to the Hokage building to report the kidnapping attempt as Kushina had dried and changed me. He was now showering.

I yawned sleepily, the trauma of today seeming to be from another lifetime in the safety of her arms.

"Let's wake Kakashi up, should we?" She muttered as she opened the room to my nursery.

Then there was silence.

"MINATO! I TAUGHT YOU HOW TO SEAL BODY SCROLLS FOR A REASON!"

* * *

 **Riveria-** you guessed nari's first word perfectly.

 **.adict.x** **-** honestly. I have no idea how often I'll update. I'm kinda dealing with anxiety and that medication doesn't work with my adhd medication so it depends on how well I'm functioning as a human being. :P


	4. Chapter 4: Nostalgia

**These are mostly just fluffy one-shots. Haha. Sorry if they're not that well written or the quality of writing has been going down. It's so hard to concentrate because my mind is so fuzzy with all the medications I'm taking. LOL. I really need a beta so if you're interested, pm me!**

 **Chapter 4: Nostalgia**

Sunlight streamed through the window. I could hear the twitters of birds outside, chirping in a fury that would suggest the beginning of spring. Konoha springs were the best. The grass were always bright and healthy, the flowers in gardens rarely had dead leaves. It may have had to do with all the chakra circulating in the air, the buzzing that I usually tuned out. Senju Hashirama, the first Hokage, had created the forest surrounding his beloved village using his chakra, and it seems that years later, his chakra still saturates the plants inside and outside the village.

The residual chakra felt warm, almost like sunshine. Maybe that would explain how his _Mokuton_ worked- assuming that his chakra was similar to sunlight energy, plants could conduct photosynthesis and respiration. Chakra is energy; in this world, it replaced electricity in everyday things in the form of seals. (Like those medical seals that are basically x-rays.) When you also consider the fact that _Mokuton_ is the combination of earth (which chakra would substitute for nutrients) and water, _Mokuton_ can basically be explained through science.

Though the closest thing to science in this world would be a botched mix of chemistry and advanced chakra theory.

I yawned and rolled lazily across the soft yellow blanket. Minato had been kind enough to lay out one of the winter futons on the ground for me, replacing the empty spots on the floor where the bloodstained mats used to be.

But I liked this blanket- it was nice and fluffy, perfect for a pondering squishy baby like me. My toys were scattered around me, an assortment of my beloved rubber kunai, some new rubber shuriken, and a few stuffed animals. There were a few cardboard picture books with titles like "The Kunoichi that Lied" and "The Ninja and the Princess" and "The Shinobi Rules ABCs!" dotting the floor of my new nursery. Everything here screamed "NINJA PARENTING", from the propaganda laced picture books to the fact that every stuffed animal was wearing a hitiate. Even the giraffe! I wasn't even a year old and I could already feel the subtle pressure to grow up to be a great ninja.

I huffed and shifted my body until my cheek was squished up against the blanket. I grabbed Moi, the one non-ninja toy in the batch and hugged it to my stomach. I had received it from Tsunade, who I've recently started called Baba, during the one occasion that she came to babysit. It had been bigger than me at that time, a puny one month old. She isn't overstuffed or scratchy and she's the best for cuddling. Moi was made of some soft jersey material, an off white color, and was stuffed with some ultra soft shit. There must be some dried lavender in her stuffing because Moi smelled divine. She was the cutest thing ever, not an animal but a cloud with a smiley face. She's my second favorite toy.

Of course, Shisui is my favorite toy.

I yawned again. Shisui would be here soon and I was really sleepy. It would be nice to have my personal heater next to me while I napped. Plus, he was super squishy.

After that first meeting, Shisui's and my play dates became a common occurrence. What had started out as weekly visits quickly became daily. Aunt Mikoto had visited Kushina quite frequently before, but now that Shisui was factored into the equation, Mikoto didn't waste any reason, any opportunity to visit her best friend. Their jounin duties had made it hard for them to find a reason to hang out. Growing up, they trained together, gossiped together, and had even pulled pranks together. Mikoto was known for her pranks and traps as well as Kushina.

These days, Kushina never went on missions due to the fact that she's the female guardian of an infant. It was common for mothers to go on maternity leave, and since the public believed that Kushina gave birth to me, the Hokage chose to extend her maternity leave on the basis that she had birth complications; most likely the Hokage wanted to ensure that the prized daughter of the Yellow Flash and Red Hot Habanero would remain protected. I'm pretty sure that Mikoto knew the truth about my birth though.

Not that Mikoto would complain about it. Now, Shisui had a playmate and Mikoto had an excuse to visit her best friend. Shisui's mother had been called out to the front lines so Mikoto was given the honor of playing babysitter to the clan head's nephew. She was already betroth to the clan head so it was probably a ploy to see how suitable of a candidate Mikoto would be as the future mother of the next heir.

I enjoyed Shisui's company. He was loyal, obedient, and quiet- a suitable candidate for my second in command. While I was still struggling to crawl, Shisui was content with sitting by me and quietly playing. Occasionally, he would follow my commands like the loyal servant he was and retrieve my toys for me.

When I finally was able to crawl, Shisui and I would explore our surroundings. We would climb up bookcases, knock over boxes, and climb up to the kitchen counter where the cookies were hidden. (Mission was reported as a success!) He was a loyal teammate.

But Shisui's and my war on cookies wasn't the only war right now.

With the Third Shinobi War, Kushina and Mikoto were expected to return to fighting. They couldn't take care of us all of the time; as kunoichi of Konoha, they had to contribute in one way or another. They had to train, Kushina had to make seals for the village, Mikoto had to help oversee the Uchiha clan, and both of them needed a few breaks every now and then.

Due to these reasons, Mikoto and Kushina thought it would be a brilliant idea to put in some D-rank missions for babysitters. Which, incidentally, were taken by academy students during war time. So while contributing money to the war effort, they were also training the Academy-midgets and getting a convenient baby sitter! Dattebane!

I don't understand how Kushina always had to crescendo through her conversations.

But coincidentally, this idea was how we met Obito.

* * *

Obito was a blustering idiot who often tripped over our toys. While he would succeed in catching our attempts to complete cookie missions, after seeing our puppy eyes, he would sigh and break a cookie in half for us to share.

Nobody could resist Ninja Art: Baby Puppy Eyes.

The first day Obito Uchiha was supposed to babysit us, he was half an hour late. Mikoto was fuming and Kushina thought it was funny. They were planning on going out to train and then the hot springs to relax. Shisui and I were quietly playing Stack the Kunai and I was absentmindedly hugging Moi and trying to will my chubby uncoordinated arms to stack the kunai just right so the tower wouldn't topple. My eyebrows were furrowed in concentration.

And then the doorbell rang. My uncoordinated arm jerked and I knocked over the entire tower of a whole four kunai, Shisui and I stacked. We both sighed in unison. Kushina laughed at the sound as she went to open the door, Mikoto following closely behind.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'm late. I kinda got lost on the way here and then I saw Yuka-obaasan and she was carrying groceries and she looked like she needed help and..." the high pitched voice of a young boy carried over to the living room. Somebody facepalmed. I puffed up my cheek, still annoyed that this boy was the reason I messed up my kunai stack. Shisui patted my arm.

"Hi, Obito! Are you here to babysit Shisui and Nari?" Kushina quipped. Obito didn't even get a chance to answer before she dragged him over to where we could see him.

"Here are the babies. They usually nap at noon and they keep trying to get to the cookies in the cabinet. The recipe for their baby food is also on the fridge and make sure to put their bibs on them before they eat. They're not walking yet but they crawl into everything and anything. They refuse to take baths together so you have to make sure you use the lock on the top of the windows before leaving Nari unsupervised. The kunai are locked up in the weapon storage, which is the door to your right. It's trapped so make sure you don't go in there or let the kids in there, especially Nari. Also, don't carry Nari while you're using the stove, your hair might catch on fire. And also, don't let her into the laundry room, you really don't have to worry about that. You should try to do the dishes while they're napping. Just make sure they don't kill each other or destroy the house or else." Kushina explained to Obito. He nodded, looking a little apprehensive. He took a quick glance at me; I smilled sweetly, making sure my eyes looked curious and entranced.

 _Damnit, Kushina. You shouldn't give him such bad impressions of me! Those incidents only happened because it was Kakashi!_

And thus, speak (or think) of the devil and the devil shall appear.

The front door opened, followed by the shuffling of shoes. I twitched. I knew who it was, his chakra feeling all staticky and even that felt uptight like the little prick. His hair was still sticking up (I swear that's static) and there was a smudge of dirt on his pants. He must've been training.

"Uzumaki-san, I have a mission so I won't be he-" Kakashi started and stopped short as he came face to face with Obito.

Well, not face to face. They were only the same height cause of his hair. Kakashi narrowed his black eyes, a frown visible underneath his mask.

"What's he doing here?" Kakashi spat out. Obito gaped at him and spluttered red. It was amusing to watch.

"Oi! It's that Bakashi bastard!" He blurted out. I giggled.

Mikoto swatted him in the head. "There are babies here!"

Shisui blinked. He tasted the words in his mouth. "Bakashi?"

I couldn't facepalm so I just toppled over so my face on the ground. He could manage to say everyone's name except mine. Why is my servant so incompetent!?

The Uchiha boy rubbed at the spot Mikoto hit him. "Mah mah. Sorry. Just what are you doing here!" He said lamely, still pointing at Kakashi.

Kakashi sniffed. "I live here. So now I gotta pack my mission pack."

"What mission do you have now?" Kushina asked. She looked a bit tense, she was always afraid that Kakashi would go on a mission that might go disastrously wrong. The war was reaching its height from what I could see. There was always a funeral going on, always somebody wearing all black when I looked out of the window to see the village.

"C-rank. Courier mission." Kakashi looked up towards her. He looked a bit bored with that idea. I noticed Kushina relax.

"Eh. Eh! So the Bakashi is just a mailman for ninja!" Obito exclaimed. I fumbled until I was sitting up. I liked this boy. He was riling up Kakashi.

Kakashi's eye twitched. "At least I'm not doing a D-rank babysitting mission."

 _Never mind the fact that there are Anbu guards around 24/7 but whatever. I'm supposed to pretend I can't sense them._

"Actually, the reason you haven't been was cause you messed up watching Nari that last time with the kunai inc-" Kushina started. Mikoto hid a smile behind her hand.

"Ha! You can't even take care of a baby!"

"Lets see you do better, you dead last Uchiha."

And thus the bickering began.

Obito ended up being a surprisingly good babysitter. He didn't try to stuff our brains with more ninja propaganda and he was content with playing the same games that we loved over and over again. (I swear peek-a-boo was never so appealing in my past life) He was content with chasing us and spending his days doing the dishes and some small chores while we napped. He loved spending time with the fumbling, drooly babies, coming even when he didn't need to babysit with excuses about how he wanted to help out the future clan head's wife. When he babysat, it didn't feel like he was doing it for the small pocket money (I knew most of the Academy wage went towards the village to fund the war effort). He was like the older brother I never had.

 _Except, you did have an older brother in your past life._

I frowned, blinking the thought out of my head. _Sori had an older brother. Nari has an Obi-ni._

Things got confusing when you had two lives.

The Uchiha's loved so easily. Obito, an orphan with only his grandmother to take care of him, still couldn't help feeling something close to family after the months of taking care of Shisui and me. I noticed Mikoto's smile becoming less formal and sweeter, almost motherly, towards Obito as the days went by. Kushina, too, wasn't the type to hide any form of affection.

Obito's smile made my day, but simultaneously broke my heart.

This boy would love so hard that he would destroy the world for love.

The Uchihas did love harder than anyone I knew. It showed in the way Obito would spend the few pocket money he made for small toys for me and Shisui. The way Mikoto kept giving him more pocket money and he _still_ spent it on the us rather than on himself. The way his eyes would be so fond and how he would squeal and laugh along with us as we played Chase and Ninja. It was evident that despite their formality, the Uchiha loved so hard and fell from so high. It was better for Obito because he just acted so non-Uchiha and like an Uzumaki.

* * *

There was a knock on the door that interrupted my pondering.

 _Shisui~_ My mind garbled. I heard the pitter-patter of his feet; he was able to walk now while I still was trapped in that standing-stepping-knees-buckling-beneath-me stage. He usually crawled around me, understanding that I was frustrated at not being able to toddle after him. He was almost a year old, his birthday within the month and his physical abilities were just better. We both still didn't have enough muscle control to pronounce certain consonants, but soon we'd be toddling everyone and finding new ways to grab those cookies.

There were heavy steps, an extra person with Mikoto. Another chakra construct, I guessed. I was always able to tell how many people in the room. Or the next room. Or the rest of the house or compound.

"Nari-chan! Where's your Mama?" She smiled, picking me up. She was just so pretty. There was a man behind her, a stern expression that missed a smile. But there was a certain sparkle, a clear look that practically drowned with love that made me feel like I was witnessing something intimate.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Mama?" I questioned. Mikoto broke the gaze between them to look at me and smile. I relaxed.

"Ok Nari. We'll find your Mama." She said soothingly. I nodded solemnly.

"Okusan, I must go back to the Police Force. I'll be home late today." He states stiffly. She giggles and they exchanged another look, me still in her arms. He walked away, albeit a bit awkwardly, closing the door behind him.

Kushina had finished her shower and changing and decided to come out, hair still wet. She beamed at Shisui and me, both of us already laying on the blanket, cuddling. Our nap times always coincided, and Shisui was already yawning.

 _Damn, he was so cute._

I cuddled closer to him, our heartbeats and breaths slowing down together. I felt so warm, so fuzzy on the inside. It was hard to believe that outside out walls, there was a war going on, people dying. It was hard to believe that Papa was killing people out there when we infants were just content inside our bubble. At this thought, I wrapped my arms around Shisui, sniffing that universal baby smell.

Kushina and Mikoto watched us, silently. There was a tangible feeling of content. Somehow, I knew what the two kunoichis were thinking.

These moments were what they fought for.

* * *

When I woke up, Shisui wasn't next to me. There was a quiet murmuring nearby, soft and gentle. The corners of my mouth turned downward, my hand gripping the soft blanket and appreciating the texture of the cotton. _My heater left._

I rolled around onto my front and looked up. Obito was on the sofa with Shisui, quietly reading to him a picture book. Shisui, with his mane of poofy feather-soft baby bed-hair, looked entranced at the colors and oh so comfortable on Obito's lap. A pout found its way onto my face as my tiny flame of jealously gradually grew hotter.

Obito noticed my movement and smiled, before laying the book on his lap. Shisui looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure why Obito stopped reading.

"Looks like hime-chan is up." Obito teased.

I huffed before turning my face away from him. _He should have just woken me up._ I thought angrily, even though I knew I was being unreasonable. I was really cranky when I woke up from a nap. Even I wasn't immune to my baby instincts to cry when being awoken. But I still took this betrayal as a personal affront. I _t's really not that hard to wake me up for story-time too!_

That was a bold-face lie.

"Nari-chan? Do you want to read?" Obito asked hesitantly. I turned my head towards him debating. One side was itching to find out what he was reading and another side was too stubborn to give in. Shisui tilted his head as he surveyed me below.

A click of the door opening saved me from my indecision.

The crackling of his chakra was easy to identify at this point. It was practically second nature, instinctive. I huffed and quickly crawled away, pushing myself against the ground slowly as my weak limbs flailed rather awkwardly. I ignored the silent stare of Shisui and the muffled sounds of Obito trying to stifle his laughter.

 _Hey! I'm still working on crawling!_

Kakashi glanced down at me as he took off his shoes, hand bracing himself against the wall. I glared and sat myself directly down in front of his path. He sighed when I didn't move.

"What are you doing, Nari. I need to get through." He sounded exasperated, but there was a hint of fondness. Honestly, if he really wanted to, he could walk around me.

I smiled cheekily before lifting my arms up for _Up!_ He silently picked me up and carried me, all comforting and warm. The lull of his steps made me happy as I bounced. We passed through the hallway, me staring at the bright photos decorating our walls. Then, he turned and carried me to the living room.

He glanced at Obito quietly (who looked like he was lulling himself to sleep more than Shisui) before leaning over to set me down on the blanket. No!

I whined, clutching onto his shirt tightly.

"What the fuck?" He muttered, his eyes bewildered. I clung on to him, forcing a bit of my buzzing chakra to my hands so I couldn't let go. He shook his neck slowly, but I was like a sloth. Giving up, arms wrapped around me stabilizing me within my perch.

"Don't tell Kushina I said that." He quietly ordered. I blinked, cocking my head to the side as innocently as I could. He rolled his eyes.

He moved to sit down on the sofa next to Obito, a little awkwardly. Obito started snoring and Shisui's eyes were fluttering. I puffed my cheeks, still wide awake and tugged on Kakashi's shirt. He looked at me and I pointed to the hallway imperiously. His eyes narrowed.

But he still carried me to his room.

I ended up on his bed, which was directly next to his desk. I was sprawled on the hard mattress and plain quilt, which smelled like mint and tinfoil and dogs. Kakashi ended up at his desk though, the scratching of pen on paper evident. I rolled over, curious as to what he was writi-

 _What is he writing?_

I squinted, trying to discern what kanjis he was using. It wasn't that his handwriting was horrendous, in fact, it looked too perfect- like printed. But the words were just difficult. My 3 years of Japanese in my previous life weren't sufficient, it seemed. _Like, why kanji._

 _Why._

Kakashi set down the paper, probably a mission report, and picked me up. Setting me on his lap, I quickly gripped onto his black shirt, (it reeked of sweat but omg this fabric is soooo soft) and cuddled close to him. Don't judge me, he's warm.

Kakashi shifted me so I was facing outwards. I stared at the blank piece of paper, before Kakashi picked up his pen and started writing down characters. He's writing the hirigana alphabet, I realized.

"A," he pointed at the first character. I looked up at him. He jabbed at the character again. "A"

 _He wants me to repeat it._ I realized.

"Ah!" I parroted. His finger moved to the next one.

"I" His voice was flat.

"I!" I beamed.

"U" _Really, he has the enthusiasm of a snail._

"U!"

"E" _Why are he such a robot?_

"E!" _Smile dammit._

"O"

"O!"

"Ka" I paused, before opening my mouth.

"Ga!" The K sound was hard to make in my mouth.

"Ka" He repeated.

"Gaaah..." Drool escaped from the corner of my mouth.

"Ka"

"Gah!"

"No Nari," Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed. "Ka~ k-k-ka."

"G-g-g-g-ga." I gurgled.

"Ka."

"Ka!" I blurt out. _It worked!_ _"_ Ga!" I said triumphantly, only then realizing that I had once again lost the consonant sound. Fuck.

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose.

And thus began our reading lessons.

* * *

A few months later, I wasn't reading yet. But my family had known I gotten the idea of reading. If i was lucky, I could piece together some hiragana. I remembered the characters and as a phonetic alphabet, there wasn't too much memorization involved. But the elusive "k" and "th" sound was just too difficult. My tongue was just disproportionately too large for it. T.T Most words felt big and murky in my mouth.

I much rather preferred to ask them to read my books for me

Mama was super dramatic and changed her voice with the character. She made every book seem cool and action packed. Papa's voice was super soft and gentle and lulled me to sleep. Kakashi's voice was predictably monotone.

I had them read everything to me. (Well, besides mission reports because those tend to be confidential and too scarring for tykes.) History, science, romance, and even poetry. I absorbed it like a sponge, sometimes trying to pick out the kanjis to each other and following the character with my chubby finger and sometimes just so I could sit on their lap and let their voices lull me to sleep.

I like to think that I wasn't too ahead, but that's hard to really figure out when you don't know the standard here. (Who was I kidding. Lmao) I avoided speaking in front of anyone besides Shisui, Mikoto, Mama, Papa, and Kakashi. They (minus Kakashi) always insisted that I was shy (which I was) but my hope was that I wouldn't appear too prodigious.

Bandage man still scares me.

Kakashi still continued my lessons and I guess somewhere along the lines, Kushina got the memo. She didn't outright start teaching me kanji like Kakashi did. (I retained most of the katakana and hiragana from my previous life) But Kushina always made it a point to try and teach me words and I always tried to find new ones to surprise her with without seeming too virtuous. And well, considering the fact that I wasn't stringing along sentences despite the temptation to communicate clearly, I'd like to say I was pretty normal.

Uhh, at least externally.

I don't think reincarnations are ever going to be considered normal.

"Nari Nari. This color is pur~ple~. Can you say that Nari? Pur~ple~. Purple!" Kushina said slowly. I giggled at her over-exaggerated lip movements. They were funny.

"Burble." I said as I stacked the purple painted block of wood on top of the green block. I picked up another block, this time yellow. "Yowo."

Kushina ruffled my hair fondly, which was up in a sort of three way fountain thing. As per usual, I looked adorable. Minato was in the kitchen through files, the scritchy-scratchy sound of his pen sounding pleasing to my ear. It almost made up for the fact that he wouldn't let me draw on the his mission report yesterday.

:(

"Now, how bout this? What color is this?" Mama said as she picked up a clear marble from the floor. The sunlight made the marble seem to glitter, a small rainbow appearing on the ground. _Trick question._ I grinned in excitement at the chance of finally showing her that new word Kakashi taught me yesteday.

"Clearrrrrer" I gurgled and waved my hand only to fall backwards on my back, on top of a set of blocks.

 _Ouch._ Tears threatened to leak over. My bottom lip jutted out, wobbling as I turned around to look at the block. Kushina rolled her eyes at my clumsiness and picked me up.

"Let's go see if we could go bother your Papa~" She giggled. Bothering Papa was my favorite acitivity. Hehe. I smiled and tugged lightly on her hair, enjoying the wiry, smooth, strands slipping through my fingers. It was so pretty.

Papa like usual, was seated at the kitchen table, surrounded by his brushes and inks and seals. Looks like he had finished his files after all. I reached forward towards him, wanting to switch my carrier.

He obliged, carefully keeping my arms out of reach of the seals on the wooden table. It was okay, I didn't want to accidentally explode something. Ummm... Not that I know from experience.

From the vellum littering the table, the straight writing going down, and the lack of circles, Papa was probably making new _Hiraishin_ seals. And I don't even want to know how bad things would turn out if I accidentally activated _those_ seals.

Minato was warm though, smelling of forest and paperwork. Snuggling my face into the crook of Papa's neck, I crinkled my nose at the bitter scent of pine. Even though I knew Mama and Papa used unscented special shampoos and soap to weaken their scent trail, they always felt comforting to me. I snuggled closer, trying to leech off more heat from Papa.

Blonde hair tickled at my nose and I sneezed. Pouting, I turned my head the other way before yawning. Looks like it was nap time...

* * *

"Nari~" Minato singsonged. I looked up from my kanji picture book. It was pretty thick but it was really cool, with seals that spoke the words in Mama's voice when I pressed the tiniest bit of chakra onto them. Mama had given it to me this morning, all wrapped up in vibrant pink and orange paper. "Do you know what day it is?"

I pursed my lips and looked back at my book, silently checking if Mama was nearby. She was.

"Nari..." Papa teased. "Why don't you stop looking at Mama's gift? I got something cooler."

I didn't bother looking up as I felt Mama enter the room.

"Mama?"

"Yes hime?"

"Papa weird."

I heard the thump of Minato fake collapsing to the ground. So melodramatic.

"He is, Nari. Papa's just like that."

"Hm..." I pondered this revelation.

"Okay."

Then, Kakashi walked in, quiet as always. He rarely took his masks off these days, and it seemed like he was more stressed and set on being a better ninja. He was always out training, though he did stop by and try to teach me more kanji when he was in.

But I blinked, he was holding a box. It too was wrapped up in pink and orange paper.

 _Okay, now that's weird._

Now that I think about it, there was only one roll of wrapping paper in this home.

It took a while for the pieces to fit.

 _Oh._ The thought echoed rather loudly in my mind. _It's my birthday._

It wasn't like it was easy to figure this out. It was Children's day yesterday with the festival lasting the week, so I often saw the parents bustling outside to buy their kids toys, the picnics that they held at the nearby park, the squealing of happy children with shiny new balls and rubber kunai. Our neighbor, Kenji, had received a giant stuffed giraffe from his father yesterday. I had thought Mama's kanji book was a belated Childrens day present.

But if Kakashi was getting me a gift, then _something_ was up.

And that's why, at six pm, I was found surrounded by strangers in my home.

Mama and Papa had decided to have the giant one year birthday bash that was customary in Uzushiogakure. And considering that I was now the heir to the Uzumaki and an honorary member of the Senju (since Tsunade was my godmother and was currently the head of the Senju clan), let's just say this party was big.

At least to me. It's hard to tell when you only reach the knees of almost everybody.

There were so many ninja crowded into our apartment that I didn't know if I should feel afraid or safe. Many of them were clan heads or heirs though there were some non-clan ninjas that Minato knew from the orphanage. Many of the adults would stoop down and try to play with me and I was happy to oblige in their attempts to make me laugh. It helped that Mama and Papa were always in my view.

But seriously, so many clan heads.

I was shy, so I didn't speak too much.

But honestly, despite how war-hardened these ninjas were, they all seemed to have a soft spots for babies.

And because I was adorable.

Marakumo Kurama, a jonin was harsh eyebrows and a thin mustache, had stopped by and given me a drawing pad, crayons, and markers. His pretty wife, Uroko, had helped me draw flowers (although they looked more like scribbles) while I giggled furiously. I pat her hand which was almost as soft as Mikotos.

Shikaku had stopped by with Inoichi and Choza. I promptly greeted him with a shrill squeak of "Ojiiiii" and he picked me up rather quickly.

I liked being a baby. Everyone wanted to carry you and treated you like a princess. (Though I guess if Minato was going to be Hokage than I'd kinda really be a princess.)

"Troublesome," Shikaku sighed as he placed a forest green bag on the table dedicated to gifts. "Yoshino wants one now."

Choza (who also had awesome red hair) nodded solemnly in agreement. Inoichi shrugged, his platinum blond hair fluttering softly. "Kotori wants a daughter."

Kushina giggled. "So how long till you guys get married and release another Ino-Shika-Cho?"

Shikaku sighed and tilted his head back to gaze at the ceiling. I looked up too, there was nothing there. "When this war finally ends probably."

Choza was munching on some chips, which I eyed curiously. I couldn't read the flavor yet but it looked yummy.

Besides the Akimichi, the other three noble clans of Konohagakure arrived. The Uchiha representatives were predictable: Mikoto, Obito, and Shisui. Fugaku was still fighting the war so Mikoto got me some pretty dresses and rubber kunai while Obito had gotten me modeling clay. Shisui had plopped down next to me and joined me in drawing more flowers.

Shibi Aburame couldn't arrive so his wife had in his stead. Kira was a calm woman and has brought her niece, swaddled tightly in a pale yellow blanket. I stared curiously at the lump until she noticed and bent down to show me.

"This is my niece, Suzue," she explained quietly before lifting up her finger to adjust her sunglasses. I reached out to pet the baby's brown hair. It was as soft as a feather.

 _She's a very cute baby,_ I glanced at Shisui out of the corner of my eye. _Almost as cute as Shisui._

"She's pretty, isn't she?" Kira said as if she had read my thoughts. I nodded before reaching out to pat the swaddle The baby stirred and shook tiny fists out of her bindings, a white onesie with mittens covering all of her skin except for her face. Kira carefully placed the baby's limbs back in and folded the blanket.

Shisui toddled over, his huge black eyes peering inquisitively at the bundle of baby in front of us. His hand lightly patted the baby's cheek.

"I hope you two can become very dear comrades in the future." Kira had said solemnly, looking me in the eye. (At least I think she was, it's hard to tell with those shades of hers.) "I think there are many things you can learn from each other."

She did give me an awesome gift though. The Aburame clan had given me a special daylily plant, infused with their chakra to attract more butterflies than an average plant. I already knew where I wanted to place the plant- right in the flower pots outside the living room window seat.

Hiashi and Hizashi had also showed up. I had stared, unsure of how to react or tell them apart. The adults had a good laugh when I had tried to stab Hiashi's foot with my rubber kunai. I pouted as Papa explained to the adults that I would often try to dispel his shadow clones with rubber kunai.

It _had_ worked before.

Tsume was the most exciting visitor, loud and boisterous despite her heavily pregnant stomach. My eyes were wide open when i saw her barrel her way in, laughing loudly along with Kushina as she teased Kushina for her "tiny baby bump." It was a matter of pride to have a large baby amongst the Inuzuka and Aburame clans.

She let me feel her stomach when Hana kicked. My eyes must have doubled in size.

"Hurry up and get this one another sibling Minato," She chortled as I pat her stomach, wanting to feel another kick. Minato flushed redder than Kushina's hair. Mama's eyes looked oddly peaceful. Inwardly, I shrugged. Naruto wasn't due to be conceived for a while.

Mama had given Tsume some of my old baby onesies and Tsume had given me a green blanket with a brown paw print pattern.

Even the Sarutobi clan was represented, although the Hokage was too busy to visit himself. Asuma had stopped by and hung around Obito and Kakashi, the latter prompty did his best to ignore the other two. Kakashi had spent most of the time watching me, pretending to be a body guard I guess. Even with all the ninja around and the fact that the security seals were up again, Kakashi was still a bit overprotective since the kidnapping attempt.

Honestly, it's not like we didn't have a ton of overpowered shinobi here. The three sannin had arrived as well. Jiraiya was loud and had scared Shisui into tears at his introduction. Mikoto (Auntie) and Tsunade (Baba) had simultaneously hit him on the head. Orochimaru spent most of the time talking to Mama about seals, interestingly enough. He barely glanced at me.

Baba had even dragged her younger brother Nawaki. He had a smile brighter than the sun and his antics had Shisui and I collapsing into fits of giggles. Obito and Kakashi had glared at Nawaki in jealousy.

It wasn't like he was gonna live for long anyways.

Tsunade ended up drinking too much sake again and Nawaki was the one who had to give me the gift. The Senju clan had given me kanji books, a ton of them. There were also a few fairytales that looked interesting. Mama winced a little at one detailing the bijuu. I wonder if it was accurate at all.

After a while, the numbers in our apartment started dwindling. The bundles of energy surrounding us between everyone had started giving me a headache so I ended up crying after a couple of hours. Mama and Papa were quick to lead our guests to the door, mentioning that I was probably shy and stressed from all the people.

It might've also been because Jiraiya's flirting with Tsunade was beginning to get dangerously out of hand. Tsunade was bound to break something soon.

I watched in Papa's arms as my parents had handed out slips of papers were characters to the shinobis that had come. The explosion and storage seals were interesting but I had watched Mama spend most of her time at home (when she was not taking care of me, of course) writing these seals. It was also so pretty, watching the way Mama's brush effortlessly drew perfect curves, lines, and circles.

I couldn't wait until they taught me sealing.

Honestly though, I think the best thing that came out of my birthday was Kakashi's present.

He knit me the softest navy blue scarf ever that I practically swam in... I'm sure he meant for it to be used as a scarf when I was older but for now, it made a suitable cuddle blanket.

And it had a _Henohenomoheji._

Enough said.

:)


	5. Omake: The Infamous Kunai Incident

**This one barely changed. Haha. So that's why it's a double update.**

 **Omake: The infamous Kunai Incident**

It wasn't the kidnapping attempt that made Nari an Anbu protection detail. She had been on the Anbu mission list long before that took place.

It wasn't the fact that she was the Yellow Flash's daughter. People knew that hurting his daughter would result in a messy and painful death.

It wasn't the fact that Nari was prone to leaving the house. Kushina Uzumaki had sealed each window and door thoroughly.

No. It was the Uzumaki in her that made babysitting Nari Uzumaki so unexpectedly dangerous.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake really couldn't understand how a D-rank babysitting mission could go wrong.

He was a dutiful Konoha ninja, the impersonation, the epitome, of what all Academy kids dreamed of becoming. He was silent, emotionless, deadly. But Kakashi was also perfectly loyal to the village, helping the Uchiha police force with their investigations. He took care of the civilians, politely and distantly saying his please and thank-you's, a necessary obstacle. He had gone on a couple of B-ranks, several C-ranks, and more D-ranks than he could possibly count. He could do those babysitting missions with his hands tied together!

He was a fucking chuunin.

But the spawn of the Red Hot Habanero and Yellow Flash just had to be the exception to that rule. No, it's logical that she is the exception- only the child of the two most, for lack of better term, unique ninjas of the generation would produce such a unique baby of itself. The thought of the baby- who took so much of Minato's and Kushina's time and effort when the two could be focusing on helping the village- brought a bitter taste to his mouth.

Although he knew it was unfitting for a ninja of his caliber, it seems even he was susceptible to jealousy. That wouldn't do, so he made an effort to get closer to the tiny red-head newborn Minato and Kushina had brought home.

It still hurt Kakashi's pride that he had not been observant enough to notice Kushina's pregnancy. One would expect that the last Uzumaki would have absurd cravings and mood swings. But nope, she managed to bypass every shinobi in the village and accurately hide her pregnancy, probably in an effort to provide extra security due to her status as a jinchurriki. But to be fair, everyone was distracted by war at the moment.

When Kushina had asked Kakashi to babysit his sister Nari for a day, complete with the D-rank pay equivalent, he had shrugged and complied. The parents deserved a break and after the initial meeting, Nari had seemed like the perfect baby. Rarely crying unless Kushina or Minato had completely forgotten her feeding or when she needed her diaper changed. As Minato had been on top of the feedings, Nari really only cried when she needed a diaper change or somebody had taken that wretched cloud toy. Otherwise, she was happy to play with her toys during tummy time or stare at her mobile before napping.

She did have an odd habit of chewing on rubber kunai, and Kakashi knew she was smart enough to know that chewing on the fake rubber blade was unsettled the ninja in the household, but Kakashi could do nothing to sigh.

The day after Nari had been brought home, Kakashi had found a book titled Shinobi Art Psychology: The Art of Raising a Great Shinobi on his bed. He suspected that Minato had left it on his bed in an effort to ease the silver-haired boy into siblinghood. But if Minato wanted Kakashi to be a good sibling, he should have prepared him ahead of time. Not by bringing home a baby from the hospital.

To the common eye, Nari was more Minato than Kushina.

She was intelligent and calm to the point that even Kakashi found it odd. There was an odd sense of maturity within the infant's eyes, like her soul was twenty years older. Nari never lost her temper, never let her wails reach the typical infant wails from that first night. It was to the point that Kushina had went to Tsunade concerned. Nari seemed to be intelligent, a prodigy of a child, but she seemed very kind. Always treating her weird cloud toy with a gentleness that most babies wouldn't be aware of.

But Kakashi knew better. Against popular belief, Nari was a pure Uzumaki through and through.

The main Kakashi knew that Nari had gotten most of her genes from Kushina (besides the brilliant Uzumaki hair and obvious physical similarities to Kushina) was the fact that every single fucking time he offered to babysit the child, something had to go wrong.

For example, the first time, Nari had managed to get turmeric tea into the washer while Kakashi was doing his laundry. He had placed the infant on the blanket Minato had laid out and surrounded her with toys. She couldn't even roll at the time so Kakashi hadn't been worried. But when Kakashi had exited the bathroom not even a minute later, the baby wasn't on her blanket. Quickly flitting through the rooms, Kakashi had been alarmed to find that the baby had been inside the washing machine and oh no, if the machine had turned on Kushina would kill him... So Kakashi firmly and gently lifted the baby out of the washing machine, closed the window with his foot, and pushed the start button with his hip. But because of his emotions, Kakashi had been too distracted to notice the bitter smell of turmeric.

The yellow tea had dyed the blue clothes an alarming shade of green. Gai had burst into tears of joy at the very notion that his rival would try so hard to emulate the Academy student. Minato had lost his favorite _black_ shirt to the cause.

She acted like a totally different baby whenever Kakashi babysat, like devil spawn. Maybe, she was possessed. The thought of a possessed Uzumaki made Kakashi shudder. It would make sense, as Kushina did hold the Kyuubi.

Don't get this wrong. Kakashi did like the tyke. It was hard to hate such a tiny human when she looked up at him so adoringly. Even harder when her first word was his name. But Nari certainly was a demon in disguise.

That was a considered a good thing in their profession. Not so much when it came to the client.

When Kakashi babysat Nari the second time, the little tyke had been obsessed with those hiragana picture books. Oddly enough, it looked as if the baby was actually studying rather than trying to mimic studying. The book that Minato provided Kakashi had said imitation was a popular characteristics for young shinobi and that babies liked the bright colors of picture books.

Nari had reached out towards the cookie jar and Kakashi had firmly shaken his head. The scroll said young shinobi shouldn't consume sugar before their first year, and as to how Nari knew what was in the cookie jar and that it was food- well as long as Kushina didn't blame Kakashi, Kakashi didn't care.

Kakashi had gone to the fridge to grab Nari's milk bottle when he heard a crash behind him, by the stove. Alarmed, he turned around brandishing his kunai to find... Nari tugging on his pants? No, that couldn't be right... The crash was a meter away, by the stove.

Kakashi had placed the baby back on her blanket, letting her read her books. He grabbed the pot, filling it with warm water from the sink. Cold milk could cause discomfort for the young, sensitive stomach of a infant. Once the water was at a rolling boil, Kakashi dropped the glass milk bottle into the water.

Only for everything to burst into flames.

Kakashi, with his famed reflexes, had retaliated in time, using a small water bullet to drench the fire. But his hair and face had been charred and covered in soot. To this day, he had no idea, whatsoever, how that happened. There was no alcohol, no chakra, nothing that could explain why the stove suddenly decided to explode in his face. Kushina had been walking home when she heard the explosion and chose the exact moment to enter the apartment. Cooing at Nari and laughing at Kakashi's misfortune. The mischievous twinkle in Nari's eyes was the only giveaway to the culprit of the crime.

The score was at 2-0, Uzumaki to Hatake.

Yet Kakashi continued to read the little red-head her favorite books, her tiny body leaning into his chest and his arms wrapped around the little Uzumaki princess. When she wasn't trying to get herself killed, she wasn't that bad.

That didn't mean that Kakashi wanted to be _alone_ with her. That was just asking for trouble.

So today, when Kushina had kindly requested that Kakashi babysit the devil spawn again, Kakashi really really wanted to say no. But his body disobeyed his mind and he found his mouth traitorously responding, "Hai. It's no problem Uzumaki-san."

Kakashi Hatake was not taking any chances this time. He locked the doors, prepared the bottle, and settled onto the couch next to Nari, The Little Ninja that Could, open and ready to be read. Nari's eyes were already moving across the hiragana, as if she was reading the characters. A frown of distaste was already on the little spawn's face. What could have Kakashi done wrong already?

She whined, unable to vocalize her words yet (or Kakashi suspected, she just refused to,) and threw the book at the ground. Hugging the weird ass cloud toy to her stomach, the red-headed tyke cooed at Kakashi. Kakashi narrowed his eye. The cute act won't work on him.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom..." Kakashi said slowly. The monster spawn blinked up innocently at him. "I'm gonna put you in your crib so no funny business. Okay?"

Kakashi felt stupid talking to a little baby like she actually understood him. But who knows? Demons were known for their cunning. For all he knew, the tyke was some reincarnated villain aspiring to take over the world. Bracing himself, Kakashi reached for Nari and picked up the baby.

Nari began squirming immediately, growling. Growling. This really was some kind of demon. Kakashi thought. She could give that Kirigakure kid a run for his money. Kakashi wouldn't put it pass Nari to grow up and kill over one hundred of her classmates, if Konoha's graduation exam had been similar.

He placed the girl in her crib, giving her a warning glance. The red-head petulantly frowned but quickly became occupied with the cloud thing. Kakashi could see the little girl's lips move slightly, as if she was speaking. But even Kakashi's chakra ears couldn't pick out the sounds she was making. And he really did have to go pee.

Kakashi left the door to the bedroom open but closed the bathroom door. Quickly unzipping his pants, Kakashi wondered what the child might do this time. The hell spawn always did something somehow to mess with the chuunin.

Hell spawn. The silver head boy couldn't figure out if he should be angry at the infant's pranks or afraid at the potential of the child. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to mix the genes of the most efficient ninja and the most infamous prankster together.

Kakashi swiftly washed his hands- even shinobi infants had weak immune systems and opened the door. He frowned when he sensed something amiss. He quickly walked towards Nari's bedroom, not even surprised to find that the infant was not in the crib.

Then he heard the clanging of metal in the weapon storage room. How Nari had gotten past the seals inscribed into the door was the only thing running through Kakashi's mind as he bit down on his thumb and wrote the necessary symbols onto the carved wooden seals. The idiot baby would-

Kakashi swung the door open, only to find a tall blonde man holding Nari. Kakashi blinked and froze. The man turned to face Kakashi, eyes glinting with anger. Nari laughed and clapped, a small cut on her cheek. Kakashi's eye fell down to the ground where a three pronged kunai laid. A drop of blood dripped onto the Tatami mat.

"Kakashi..." Minato said quietly, a small smile on his face. It's a lie. "Now please tell me why I felt Nari's chakra near my Hiraishin kunai? And how exactly she got into the weapon storage room?"

Babysitting Nari became a Anbu B-rank protection detail the day after.


End file.
